New Adventures
by RedFantasies
Summary: FT Gang AU in the future. Lucy runs away from home only to find herself witnessing the infamous Fairy Tail gang about to blow up a building. They have no choice but to take her with them, but is that really a bad thing? Nalu of course. Rated T for some violence, swearing, mentions of torture, and self-harm
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys! So inspiration came for this sooner than I thought it would. I like this one a lot more and I think it'll be more different. Natsu's going to be kind of OOC. All of them probably will be (it _is_ an AU) but I think it'll be a lot better than the previous version of this. Hope you guys enjoy and constructive criticism is welcome. This story will also be on tumblr, so check out my blog for a bunch more fairy tail wildest-dreams-at-midnight!**

Chapter 1

Lucy had been dreaming of running away for years. The thing that finally pushed her over the edge happened the day before her seventeenth. Her day had started off normally enough. She had her maid, and one of her only friends, Virgo, wake up and help her get ready the day. After she was ready she headed down to have an awkward, silent breakfast with her father before having lessons with her tutor, Capricorn.

Any other girl in Fiore would have killed for Lucy's life. If Lucy wanted anything she got it immediately. She had money, clothes fit for a princess, tutors, and a sprawling estate that could easily be mistaken for a town. Only a couple of years ago Lucy had loved being here, but that was when her mother was alive. Layla Heartfilia had been seriously ill for two or three years before her sickness claim her life. That was when Lucy's life changed dramatically, and not for the better. The graceful gates that surrounded the estate turned into barbed wire and the wealthy estate, a prison. Lucy's father had become the warden, never letting her leave the property without permission (which he never gave), or when she did leave, it was in an armored car going to meet a potential suitor that her father had arranged for her. Maybe if she wasn't alone her captivity would have been more bearable, but her only friends were the staff that worked at the estate. Some nights, Lucy still cried and mourned the life she had before her mother's death, when Lucy felt loved and well-cared for, not now when she felt like something you could use to trade with at a market. Layla had taught her daughter all there was to know about the stars, their positions, and their stories. Whenever Lucy was feeling particularly sad, she would go into the manicured gardens next to her mother's grave, lie down on the soft grass, and stargaze for hours before eventually falling asleep. The idea that the stars had once been living things that had been pinned up in the night sky made the heiress feel less alone, made her feel comforted.

The rest of her day passed uneventfully, the only thing that could have been considered interesting was when her father called for her to come to his office. A ball of lead coalesced in her stomach and she felt nauseous. Not because she was sick, but because of the fact that this would be another meeting for her father to demand that she go visit a business partner and his son. As Lucy walked down the marble-floored hallway her footsteps echoed throughout the silent hall. Then, more than ever, she realized just how vacated this mansion really was. It was designed to house dozens of people and to entertain hundreds, but the only occupants were her father, the servants, and herself. Once Lucy reached the solid oak door, she gathered her courage and tried to curb her anxiety, and knocked on the door. "Come in," called a gruff voice and the oak door slid open silently at the press of a button from her father.

"You called for me Father?" Lucy asked, not wasting time on pleasantries, they would just have been ignored anyway. She would have taken a seat on one of the leather chairs in front of his large desk but didn't want to seem disrespectful. After a couple of moments of Lucy standing there awkwardly while he looked through papers, Jude Heartfilia cleared his throat.

Jude Heartfilia owned one of the more powerful businesses in Fiore. He held a monopoly on transportation like trains and airplanes. After his wife passed away, work was the only thing on Jude Heartfilia's mind. The only time he ever spent with Lucy was if a marriage could be arranged to help benefit the family company. Based off of that, Lucy assumed that this visit would be about another potential suitor. She would argue back, and if he was angry enough he might even go as far to hit her, which he had done before.

"I received a message from one of my associates from another business," he began and Lucy internally sighed. _Here we go_ , she thought. "He has a son five years older than you that is ready for marriage. If it's agreeable with you, we will visit them tomorrow." A bitter laugh almost escaped the blonde's mouth but she bit her tongue. The fact that he made it seem like she actually had a choice in this matter was laughable. Lucy could lock herself in her room and he would probably bust the door down.

"If I do have a choice in this, then I politely decline. I don't want to marry someone who's older than I am, let alone someone I've never met before." Lucy's indirect challenge to his authority caused a vein to pulse in his forehead. Preparing herself for the inevitable she backed up from where she was standing, planning a route to the door incase she had to escape. Jude stood up so forcefully, his chair flew backwards into the wall and Lucy's heart rate accelerated. In three wide steps he reached where she was standing and mercilessly grabbed her wrist. If it were possible her heart rate skyrocketed and she winced at the pain, knowing a bruise would form by tomorrow.

"Whether you like it or not, you are going tomorrow evening and marriage arrangements will be made by the end of the night. This could be my one chance to expand our business into another region in Ishgar," he growled. "You will not ruin this for me. Now go to your room, I'll have dinner sent up for you." In a last ditch attempt to persuade him Lucy collected her courage.

"Tomorrow is my birthday," she whimpered, her courage failing as tears flooded her brown eyes. The only response was a sharp blow to her face. Trying to quiet the sobs that were wracking her body she ran out of the room and back to her figurative prison cell. _That's it_ , Lucy thought through her tears. _I can't be here anymore._

Later that night, 12:30, according to the clock on her nightstand she slipped out of bed and changed into a pair of pants and a long-sleeved shirt that she had incase she decided to go and work in the gardens. Thankfully Lucy had a black cloak with a hood in her closet and she put that on too. After pulling winter boots on her feet she stepped out onto her balcony and debated if she could climb down. Lucy's mind was working fast as she tried to figure out a way to climb down. _The sheets and window curtains_ , she thought. With her triumph she closed her eyes and let the cool night air wash over her. The air smelled fresh and a breeze blew through the air and Lucy felt at peace. She proceeded to yank all of the sheets and blankets off of her bed and tied them together to create a long rope. Just to be safe, Lucy slid the window curtains off of the rod supporting them and added them to her makeshift rope. What she didn't count on was the curtain rod breaking off the wall due to her insistent pulling. A loud _clang_ resonated throughout the room and due to the stillness of the air it seemed a hundred times louder than it actually was. Frozen Lucy waited several moments to see if there would be any pounding footsteps in the hallway that lead to her room. When only silence greeted her, she let out her pent up breath and continued with her work. Back on the balcony, Lucy tied one end of the fabric rope to the metal bars that enclosed the outdoor space. Giving it a firm tug she climbed up onto the railing and wobbled precariously before lifting herself over and slid down the rope. Lucy wasn't surprised that her landing was far from graceful and she fell on her back in the grass. Internally groaning in pain, she picked herself up and ran for the gates.

"Damn it," Lucy whispered as she stared up at the gates before her. "Now what am I supposed to do?" Her eyes wandered around the yard to see if there was anything she could use but her mind drew a blank. "I guess I could try to climb it," she answered herself. Thankfully the wrought-iron gates weren't that high. As soon as she put a hand on it, the gate gave her an electric shock. Impulsively she drew her hand away and swore under her breath. _Wait isn't there a keypad to open the gate?_ If she craned her neck a certain way she saw the keys illuminated in the darkness. _I know the password, and if I had a branch I could probably use it to put the code in_. Lucy sighed and then set off to find a low-hanging branch she could just snap off of a tree and use. Lucy was successful in her search when she found a short tree near her mother's grave. Looking at the tombstone made Lucy's heart hurt and as a last minute thought she picked some flowers and laid them on the grass in front of the gravestone. "I love you Mama," she whispered. "I know you're supporting me." With that she turned and ran back to the gate, branch in hand. The keypad wasn't far away and it seemed easy enough but Lucy knew if she put the code in wrong three times, the security system would go off. Carefully Lucy entered the code with the branch and thankfully nothing went wrong. The gate silently swung open and she ran out away from her prison to freedom.

Now came the next problem, where was she supposed to go? It's not like she had any friends. With a sigh she continued running until she was well away from the estate and approaching the outskirts of Crocus, the capital of Fiore. During the day, from what Lucy had observed, the capital was filled with flowers, laughter, and people swarming the streets at open-air markets buying food, and of course the flowers. Crocus was famous for its flowers and it attracted a lot of tourists. Now at night, the streets were deserted. Some pubs and taverns were still open and light, laughter, and voices spilled out of the windows and into the silent streets. As much as Lucy would have loved to go into a tavern and get something to eat, she hadn't had the foresight to bring money or anything worth trading with her. Tired and running out of energy she stopped walking and rested against the side of a building. Lucy would have used this time to think but scuffling noises and voices distracted her. Quickly she flattened herself up against the wall and held her breath.

"Is this the place?" a male's voice asked.

"Yeah it is. Lay the explosives at the corners of the building, then we can just get out of here and activate them when we're farther away," another voice instructed. Lucy's heart raced. This had to be one of Fiore's notorious gangs that people knew of but didn't know much about them. Every now and then you would hear something on a news broadcast about how a gang started a shooting or blew up a building. Lucy was frozen, if she wanted to move she couldn't. If she moved she probably would be caught. It was even more dangerous because she didn't know what group this was.

"Gajeel is something wrong?" the voice that was giving instructions asked. Lucy's eyes widened. Gajeel was a member of Fairy Tail, the most powerful gang in Fiore.

"You don't smell anything off Salamander?" Lucy knew she was dead. Salamander was Natsu Dragneel's nickname and he was Fairy Tail's they couldn't _smell_ her…could they?

"No, there's someone here." A sharp crack pierced the air and a "what the hell was that for?" in response.

"Idiot! I thought you told me the area was clear!" Salamander yelled.

"I did, don't blame this on me," Gajeel argued back. "Fine, I'll go find this person." Running would have been the safest option at this point but Lucy was shaking so much she couldn't move. From what she understood, Fairy Tail only killed people who either made them angry, posed a threat, or was just problematic whether it was just for them or for the whole of Fiore. Maybe she would be safe, _maybe_. Lucy's eyes were squeezed shut but she had the feeling that eyes were on her. Very slowly she opened them and saw a bulky figure with red eyes peering at her curiously. "Found her Salamander."

"No don't take the explosives away! We won't get this chance again! Don't give me that look Ice Princess!" Salamander yelled before making his way over to where Gajeel and I were standing. The figure that was approaching them seemed to flick something on a lamppost and suddenly there was light. Lucy noticed that the gang leader had dark eyes and the pink hair that he was well known for. His trademark scaly scarf was around his neck and he peered at Lucy curiously. "Gajeel go away, you're scaring her."

"How am I doing that?" Gajeel protested.

"Because you look terrifying and your creepy red eyes don't help at all," Natsu reasoned. "Now go make sure that they don't screw up please." Grumbling under his breath, Gajeel left Lucy and Natsu alone on the street corner. "Would you mind telling me your name?"

"Lucy," the blonde whispered refusing to make eye contact. His eyebrows drew together.

"You're not going to tell me your last name are you?" Natsu asked softly and Lucy shook her head. "Can you at least take the hood off?" With trembling hands Lucy pushed the black fabric off of her head and waited for the pinkette to recognize her as the Heartfilia heiress. "You're Lucy Heartfilia right?" Natsu pressed through gritted teeth. Once Lucy gave a small nod Natsu continued his interrogation. "What are you doing here? I swear if your dad sent you here as a trap I'll kill him."

"Why would he set a trap?" Lucy questioned nervously. "He's never had any contact with Fairy Tail before, not that I know of anyway."

The pinkette's mind was whirling. Jude Heartfilia's daughter was standing in front of him trembling from fear, and apparently she had no idea that her father was tangled in Fiore's gang system? "How much do you know about his work?" Natsu asked, as he began to relax. She might not pose as much of a threat as he initially thought.

"Nothing I swear! He doesn't tell me anything, unless there's a potential suitor," the Heartfilia heiress replied bitterly.

"What are you doing all the way out here?" Natsu continued his interrogation but now his voice was less harsh and Lucy slowly began to feel less threatened.

"I ran away from home," Lucy told him, "I couldn't take being there anymore."

"What happened to your cheek?" Natsu shot out another question and Lucy instinctively put her hand to cover the left side of her face. Natsu frowned and gently grabbed the blonde's hand and pulled it away from her face. With his other hand he turned her face towards the light only to see a purple bruise. "How did you bruise it?" The question came out more tender and concerned than Lucy would have thought. Natsu's mind was working quickly, trying to put together all the pieces of the information that Lucy had given him. Obviously she and her father weren't on good terms but, Natsu hoped that even Jude Heartfilia had some decency to treat his only living immediate family well.

"My father hit me for not wanting to meet a suitor," Lucy whimpered and she felt tears come to her eyes. Natsu started to freak out, if there was one thing he hated dealing with, it was crying girls.

"Don't cry, you don't have to go back there if you don't want to," he quickly reassured her and she looked at him with wide, tearful brown eyes. A pang went through Natsu's heart and he felt bad for her. Yes his father had disappeared a couple of years ago, but he and Natsu had an amazing relationship. The fact that there were innocent people like Lucy being hurt for no reason made him angry.

"Really? You mean that?" she sounded hopeful and Natsu smiled.

"I mean, I can't let you go regardless because the last thing I need is someone finding out that you met me. That would bring a lot of trouble that I really don't want to deal with. And besides, I can't let you go back to an abusive father. I always knew Jude was an asshole but I thought he'd be above abusing his only family at the most. Anyway you didn't have any plans did you?"

"No I didn't. I wasn't thinking about that when I escaped," Lucy admitted.

"You're going to have to tell me how you did that, I'd love to hear that story. But you're coming with us." He stretched out his hand and Lucy grabbed it tentatively. "Guys get in the car! When we're ten minutes away activate the explosives." And just like that Lucy was forced to accept her new reality. Was she captured? Or was this a blessing in disguise? She wasn't entirely sure. At that moment Lucy was trying to combine what she had heard about the infamous Natsu Dragneel on the news with the person she had just met. Maybe he was a gang leader, but he seemed so angry at the fact that Lucy had been abused, even if it was just a little bit, that she couldn't help but think that he was, at heart, a good person.

"Where'd the girl come from? Did you find a girlfriend Flame Brain?" a teenage boy around Lucy's age teased.

"Shut the fuck up Gray, I'll tell you about it later. Right now just get us home," he ordered. "Go to sleep Lucy, it'll be a couple of hours." Lucy didn't need encouragement. She rested her head against the plush leather interior and drifted off to sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

When Lucy regained consciousness, she tried desperately to go back to sleep. _Today I have to go to the meeting with that suitor. I could always try locking myself up in my room again, but that won't work. It never does._ Then all of the memories from the previous night came flooding back.

Her last memory was Natsu telling her to go to sleep and falling asleep on a leather seat in a car. All of the anxiety she had had the night before came back but so came waves of relief. She would never go back to the estate, Natsu had implied as much last night. But now the blonde was nervous about what the leader of Fairy Tail would do now. It hadn't seemed like he wanted to hurt her, but that could have been an act.

Finally she forced her eyes open and was surprised to find herself lying in a large bed with a simple light blue blanket. White window curtains were pulled back to reveal a large window that showed the tops of trees. _This must be Natsu's house_ , Lucy thought, her mind still drowsy from sleep. A soft _whoosh_ noise filled the room and Lucy looked towards the door. To her surprise a blue cat walked in and seemed to make eye contact with her. "Oh good you're awake." _Did the cat just talk?_ Lucy asked herself. _No, that's impossible_. "What have you not seen a talking cat before?"

"No, I can't say that I have," Lucy managed to say through her surprise and shock.

"That's so weird," the cat teased. "Natsu told me to take you to his office. He's been waiting for you to wake up all morning."

"What time is it?" Lucy yawned and looked around for a clock.

"Oh there aren't any clocks. Instead there's some sort of panel in the night table that can do a holographic display of a clock." Lucy's brown eyes widened, she had thought those were only prototypes. Her father had holographic displays but not that many. Curiosity getting the better of her, she tapped the top of the nightstand and was greeted with a blue interactive holographic display. She pressed the word 'clock' and saw the display change into the time.

"It's 10:00?" Lucy gasped and she smiled to herself. "I never got to sleep in this late." She laughed as the blue cat stared at her oddly.

"C'mon, Natsu's not known for his patience," the blue cat said and Lucy trailed after him. The talking cat led Lucy down a hallway that had glass siding and Lucy gasped when she saw the rest of the house. The furniture that she did see was sleek and obviously incredibly modern, such a difference from the estate she had grown up on. The walls were all glass and they offered a view of the incredible backyard. Beyond the bright green grass was a swimming pool with water that appeared a dark shade of turquoise due to the shade of the trees.

"This is incredible," Lucy breathed as she followed the cat down the hall. They stopped in front of a dark brown door and the wonder that Lucy had been filled with vanished and was replaced with nerves.

"Natsu, we're here!" The brown door silently swung open.

"You can come in little buddy. Good morning Lucy," Natsu said. Lucy's first impression was that Natsu clearly didn't put emphasis on appearing serious. He had a red V-neck, cargo shorts and his feet were propped up on his white, minimalistic desk. Like her father's office, Natsu had two chairs in front of his desk but these looked far more comfortable. Both of the walls were white and had various images, maps, and newsfeeds covering the surface. All the information was constantly changing and Lucy had to wonder how Natsu kept track of it all. The wall behind the desk was all glass allowing more sunlight to stream in through the windows. "You don't have to keep standing you know," Natsu told his guest with an amused, arched eyebrow. Lucy flushed and sat down.

"Sorry, old habits die hard," she apologized keeping her head lowered. She heard Natsu sigh.

"Happy, can you go bring the stuff up for breakfast? Sorry to make you work little buddy but Kinana and Mira left last night and aren't coming today."

"Aye sir!" the blue cat, Happy Lucy figured, exclaimed and grew white wings and zoomed through the air and out the door.

"He can fly?" Lucy asked incredulously. Natsu laughed at her expression.

"Yeah, he was genetically engineered to. All my cousins have cats just like him, we call them Exceeds." He cleared his throat and put his hands behind his head. "Did you sleep well?"

"Yes, thank you. I haven't slept in this late before. Or I mean I have, just not since I was little," Lucy amended quickly, still looking anywhere but Natsu's sharp, dark eyes.

"You don't need to be so afraid of me you know," he informed her. "You should consider yourself lucky, if it had been one of our enemy gangs you'd be in a considerably worse position. I like to think that I've treated you well, considering you're a Heartfilia and Fairy Tail generally has a grudge against your family, not your whole family though, just your father. I'd only hurt you if you gave me a reason to." At the last words Lucy's head snapped up and she eyed the pinkette warily. Normally her opinion never mattered to anyone and she learned the hard way that it was easier to keep your thoughts to yourself. While the Salamander's words weren't exactly reassuring, he hadn't hurt her yet.

"I have the food!" Happy announced as he placed a plate with muffins, fruit, and a pitcher of juice onto the desk. "Can I stay with you Natsu?"

"Sure little buddy," Natsu agreed and Happy cheered. The blue talking cat flew up on Natsu's head and curled up in his mess of pink hair. "Lucy, you can take the food. If there's one thing you should know, I'm normally pretty relaxed and not formal in the slightest." Lucy nodded and reached out and grabbed a muffin and poured herself some juice.

"Thank you, you've been incredibly generous," Lucy thanked her host softly. A small half-smile appeared on Natsu's face. He was genuinely glad that Lucy was at least talking. From what he knew about Jude Heartfilia from observations, interactions, and spies, one of them being Loke who was actually a member of Fairy Tail, Jude Heartfilia was stiff, formal, single-minded, and cold. Of course his daughter would be quiet and shy. She had probably been oppressed since her mother had passed away. Natsu's jaw tensed involuntarily at his thoughts. He chuckled softly at her words of gratitude.

"I'm glad you like it. Lucy, would you mind if I asked you some questions?" Natsu ventured tentatively. He would have to be careful, he didn't want Lucy to close up, quite the opposite. Immediately her brown eyes became guarded and she regarded him with emotionless eyes.

"I'm going to go now," Happy excused himself and slipped out the door.

"What kind of questions?" she replied. Natsu had spent his entire life dealing with people and he had become adept at reading body language. Even though Lucy probably believed she was emotionless, and Natsu had to give her credit for allowing such little emotion to show, Natsu could tell from her tense shoulders, alert eyes, and clenched jaw that she wasn't going to give answers willingly.

"Just information about your father. It doesn't have to be anything specific, I mean I have spies but I just want to see if they missed anything," Natsu said casually. Lucy was on high alert. Natsu had implied that he and her father weren't friendly with each other and while she wanted to find out more about what made her father and Natsu hate each other she wasn't willing to give information.

"How about we play a game?" Lucy suggested and Natsu gave an exasperated sigh.

"And what do you suggest Princess?" he asked sarcastically and Lucy was quietly seething in frustration. If Natsu was trying to provoke her into coming out of her shell it was working.

"I have to ask you questions too, and you have to answer honestly," she ordered and the look in her eyes let Natsu knew that she wasn't going to budge on this. "And your questions have to be a lot more specific." Natsu groaned and looked at one of the white walls.

"We have to go to Fairy Tail soon, so we'll make this fast. I'll do the first question. What did your father do to make you run away and how did you get away?" Lucy sighed and willed herself to stay strong.

"That's more than one question," she accused and her eyes narrowed. Natsu's dark eyes were filled with mirth and mischievous laughter.

"Consider it an elaboration," he countered and Lucy could hear the laughing in his voice. Involuntarily Lucy laughed softly. She didn't remember the last time she had genuinely laughed.

"Well as I said last night, my father wasn't exactly kind and loving; the only time he paid attention to me was when a marriage opportunity came up to expand his business. Yesterday was the last straw. He said he would basically force me to go with him to meet this future fiancé of mine. I didn't want to go and I tried to argue by saying," Lucy trailed off at what she had argued with. She was seventeen today, her birthday would probably pass uneventfully as always.

"By saying what Lucy?" Natsu urged. The gang leader figured that this was Lucy's first time to really have a real conversation and he didn't want to end quickly. "Lucy what did you say?"

"I said that today was my birthday," the blonde said softly and Natsu looked at her in astonishment. Was her birthday never celebrated? That had to be it. And for the second time since they had met only eight or nine hours ago he felt a pang of sympathy go through his heart. The pinkette felt so bad for her. He had been that lonely once, after his father disappeared and Natsu had nowhere to go. The whole mansion and millions of jewels were his and he had no one to share it with. Then he and his cousins, Gajeel and Wendy for their father and mother respectively, had disappeared too, stumbled their way into Fairy Tail. But before that he had been truly lonely. Gajeel and Wendy lived in different houses and they were more than a half-hour drive away. Their cousins Sting and Rogue were even farther away; it was a three-hour drive to get to their house. Another stroke of luck was when a nine-year-old girl had strayed onto his mansion grounds with nothing but her name and the clothes she was wearing. Evelyn had been living with him before she had been kidnapped. Natsu knew what Lucy was going through, he knew it too well. But luckily his loneliness had gone away after a couple of months; he couldn't fathom feeling that way for years.

"Why didn't you tell us? When we get to Fairy Tail we're celebrating. You haven't celebrated your birthday in a while have you?" The question was pointless but Lucy answered anyway.

"Not since the year my mother died. Father never cared and he never made any time for me. The cooks we had would make me small cakes and I would get clothes from others but it felt meaningless." While she was talking Natsu walked up to one of the white walls and dragged some videos and news feeds out of the way. After tapping the options on the wall quickly he typed something into it and hit a send button.

"There, that'll be arriving at headquarters soon. Mira or Kinana will see it and they'll make a cake for you!" Natsu explained and his childlike enthusiasm was contagious.

"Anyway, my father slapped me and I ran back up to my room. I escaped by making a rope out of blankets, sheets, and window curtains to climb out of my room. I might have pulled the curtain rod out of the wall though," she admitted. Natsu blinked dubiously at her before bursting out in laughter. Her new friend, at least she thought he was, was bent over in his chair, holding his stomach, and laughing until tears came down his face.

"That's great!" he crowed, flicking the tears off of his cheeks. "You'll fit right in with Fairy Tail."

"Who says I'm going to join Fairy Tail?" Lucy argued and Natsu's gaze became less humorous.

"I'm not really giving you much of a choice Princess. It's either become a member or we'll have to take more extreme actions." The chill in his voice made Lucy positive that the extreme actions he was talking about were less than favorable. He was right, Natsu had planned this out, she was sure of it. Not that she was complaining that much, but he had her backed in a corner. Lucy came to the conclusion that the only real option she had was to join the gang and she had to ask herself if that would be such a bad thing.

"Fine, I'll join," she muttered.

"Good! You'll learn to love it eventually, I promise," he gave her a brilliant grin. "Now continue your story!" Lucy had to smother laughter at how her now fellow gang member's personality went from that of a cold adult to an innocent child.

"So after I climbed out of my room I had to get past the gates so I grabbed a branch and put the code into the keypad that was outside of the gate. And after that I ran and eventually found you." Natsu was impressed. For not having any outside experience he knew that she was going to become a valuable member of Fairy Tail. They always needed people that were resourceful and clever like that.

"I'm impressed Princess," he complimented her with a smirk gracing his face. "I'm guessing you're pretty smart then." Natsu could have sworn that her cheeks turned a slight shade of pink.

"My turn," Lucy stated distracting Natsu from his thoughts. "What were you doing last night?" Natsu groaned and pondered the best way to explain this to her without letting her know directly that her father was involved in the complicated gang system in Fiore.

"It was a warehouse of a gang that screwed us over," he answered vaguely. Lucy was far from satisfied with that answer but she knew Natsu wouldn't budge. Once more, he glanced at one of the white walls and swore at something he saw. "Goddamn it Freezer Burn, can you do anything right?" he yelled at the interactive surface. "We're going to have to cut this short because this idiot fucked these negotiations up." He took a deep breath to regain his temper and faced Lucy. "Any last minute questions?" Lucy bit her lip. She knew the question she wanted to ask but she was afraid. "You want to ask something, go ahead and ask it. Whatever it is I swear that I won't get angry."

"Are we friends?" Lucy whispered to the quiet room and Natsu looked at her with a teasing glint in his dark eyes. Lucy noticed that they looked green with the angle of the light entering the room.

"We can be," was all he answered and Lucy gave a half-smile. _Good enough_ , she thought.

"Come on then! You have to meet everyone and Mirajane should have that cake ready by the time we get there!" Lucy followed him out of the room. "Happy we're going to Fairy Tail!" Natsu shouted and a blur of blue fur flew around the corner.

"I want to go too!" the cat cried and Natsu chuckled. "I want to try giving Charle another fish today."

"And Charle is?" Lucy asked nervously, intruding on the conversation.

"Charle is Wendy's, my little cousin's, Exceed. Happy is in love with her." As they went down the stairs and onto the first floor Lucy gasped in shock at how truly amazing this house was. The backyard was large and spacious and was that an outdoor kitchen? Natsu stopped in front of a door and leaned down for an eye scan. The pad flashed green and the door slid open.

"You have three cars?" Lucy asked incredulously. "Isn't that a bit excessive?"

"The blue and silver are backups. This one is the one I use the most," he explained nodding his head towards a red sports car with a black Fairy Tail symbol painted onto the door.

"Isn't a bad idea to have the symbol on the car?"

"Yeah, but there's a mechanism that makes it disappear. And besides, the metal and glass are bulletproof and the tires are filled with rubber so we can't get a flat." He opened the passenger seat and gave an exaggerated bow; Happy jumped in after. Natsu slid into the driver's seat and tapped a panel where the controls like air conditioning and radio should have been. After typing in some words he pressed a button and a map appeared on the panel.

"Is this the route you want to take?" an automated female voice asked. The pinkette gave the map a glance before hitting the steering wheel in frustration.

"What the hell? Why does this always happen?" Natsu fumed. Lucy craned her neck to look at what Natsu was angry about. "This GPS always gives me the most convoluted routes possible. Or they're just going in the opposite direction." He began the process of entering the destination again. "Best piece of technology, yeah right. Makarov was drunk when he said that, this thing is a piece of shit," he muttered bitterly. "I want a refund."

"Who's Makarov?" the blonde asked, hoping she wasn't too annoying with her question asking.

"He was the leader of Fairy Tail before me, now he's just kind of like an advisor. Makarov supposedly gets us the best technology ever, which I'm seriously starting to doubt." Lucy giggled at his frustration and impatience. He whooped when the right map showed up and he hit a large button that said drive. He made small talk the whole way, but only half of his mind was actually on the conversation he was participating in. Lucy was smart, the story of how she ran away from home proved that. Natsu felt his lips twitch in a small smile. Aside from how valuable she would be once she started training in fighting, Lucy also knew about dealing with large corporations, like her father's for example. No doubt she had connections that could be valuable to him, if he played his cards right that is. Even better was the fact that Jude Heartfilia wouldn't do that much to oppose them if he knew that his daughter's life was in the balance. Not that he would really give her back anyway, he guaranteed that she would fall in love with Fairy Tail and want to stay. And besides, he may be a gang lord but the idea of mistreating family or friends went against his moral code. If Jude Heartfilia did attempt to get his daughter back, Lucy had the four most powerful gangs in Fiore protecting her.

In Natsu's mind the Heartfilia family had too much power and Jude had been attempting to expand his businesses by trying to takeover Fairy Tail and their allies. _As if he doesn't have enough power already_ , Natsu thought bitterly. Aside from being power-hungry, Jude Heartfilia also became allies with the Balam Alliance, which contained the most powerful, corrupt people that Natsu had ever seen. They had been attempting for years to try and takeover the entire country, which was actually easier than one might think due to their various spies and double agents in the Council already. On top of that, Natsu was unsure if it was the Balam Alliance or Jude himself, but somebody had kidnapped his adopted little sister from under his nose and he hadn't seen her in a year. The idea of questioning Lucy about her was tempting, but Natsu knew he wouldn't get anywhere. It was clear Lucy knew nothing of her father's work so his spirits were lowered yet again as a potential lead ran dry.

When they arrived at the Fairy Tail headquarters Lucy was surprised that it was a contemporary skyscraper made out of dark glass and metal. For the most part, the ride to Fairy Tail was incredibly enjoyable for the blonde. She and Natsu had talked about random, everyday things from music and movies to what places they wanted to travel to, all the while being oblivious to all of the plans swirling around in her companion's head. Natsu had cracked a joke right before he gave his car off to the building valet. Lucy was laughing while Natsu pulled her into the elevator. Before he could press a button however he had to have another eye scan.

"We found that eye scans were far more safe than cards or fingerprints," Natsu explained. "We'll need to get your eye scanned into the system. I'll have Levy do that with you, you'll like her. You're both bookworms." When the elevator dinged they exited onto a wooden floor that opened to a large, open room. The left wall was similar to the walls in Natsu's office. Images, video clips, newsfeeds, and lines of HTML were constantly changing.

"Why are their HTML codes on the wall?" Lucy asked as she followed Natsu.

"Oh those are codes in case we ever need to hack something," he answered casually as if it was something that you could bring up in any conversation. "Hey guys we have a new person!" Everybody's eyes were on them and Lucy felt her face flush from the attention and she moved slightly behind Natsu. "C'mon Luce don't be shy!" He grabbed her wrist and dragged her from behind him. "This is Lucy!"

"Isn't she a Heartfilia?" someone called and Natsu glared in the man's direction and his jaw tightened with frustration and he sighed. Natsu knew that he was referring to Evelyn. That had been a hit they hadn't been expecting.

"Cool it Jet, it's not like I had much of a choice. She saw us while we were working on our raid. And I think Lucy will cooperate with us. Besides she ran away from home and I couldn't let her wander around all alone, she would've been taken by a far worse gang than ours. Does anybody want to argue this with me?" Natsu asked in a deadly calm voice, as if daring someone to make a move against him. "Yo Mira!" he called and a girl with long white hair and bright blue eyes looked up at him from behind a bar counter.

"Hi Natsu, I got your message. Kinana is getting the cake now," she informed him and Natsu gave a satisfied nod.

"Good, Lucy go hang out with Mira and I'll have Levy come over so you can start making friends. I need to go deal with Frost Bite and the mess he got himself into." Before he could make a move a ringing noise came from the interactive white wall and a video camera icon was flashing. Natsu sighed and slid the icon to the right. "How badly did you screw up?" Natsu asked immediately.

"Not terribly, but they want to be the first ones to have those thermal detectors that we're working on." Lucy recognized the teen speaking was the one that Natsu had called Gray the night before.

What do we know about these people?" Natsu questioned rubbing his forehead with one hand.

"Well they work under Grimoire Heart, but these guys are pretty low in their hierarchy, so that's not a problem."

"Except for the fact that said detectors would be going straight to Grimoire Heart," Natsu objected which Gray ignored.

"However Hibiki, you know from Blue Pegasus, said that they're also working on a deal with Jude Heartfilia and information from Hibiki is normally pretty reliable," Gray continued. At the mention of Lucy's father, the blonde's head jerked up. Her father was part of the gang system? How could she not have known? That's why Natsu didn't want her going back home, well being aside. The thought should have made her angry, that Natsu's intentions weren't completely selfless but she had been treated so well that it couldn't bother her. Not that much anyway.

"Knock them out and lock them up, we'll have to question them and I don't want them to go running back to either Grimoire Heart or Jude Heartfilia with whatever information they're gathering. And take whatever recording devices they have, or any technology in general, away and give it to Freed or Levy."

"Is there anything else we could do?" Gray questioned and Natsu scowled.

"Do you want to kill them or have them interrogated?" the pinkette snapped and that shut Gray up.

"So that wasn't entirely screwed up," a girl with long brown hair and a beer bottle in her hand observed.

"We don't know how much stuff has been transmitted though Cana," Natsu grimaced.

"Wait Natsu?" Lucy spoke up bravely and rose from her seat. The gang leader simply arched an eyebrow in response, his charcoal gray eyes looking at her intently. "What does my father have to do with any of this?"

"I'll tell you later," was all he said before declaring that Lucy's birthday celebration would take place that night.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey guys! So this story is really coming along and I've had a lot of ideas, kind of. Anyway I'll update the others as soon as I can, promise! SO enjoy!**

Natsu's patience with the guys that worked with Grimoire Heart was running thin. He had spent twenty minutes working on the one who seemed to be the person in charge of the group of five that had visited. He was hooked up to electrodes that monitored heart rate and had more electrodes on his head that showed brain waves as ways to tell if he was lying at all. In addition he had electrodes that could produce an electric shock that differed in intensity and length depending on what Natsu wanted. Gray was in the room with them and was analyzing the information that the electrodes were recording. The ones that delivered an electric shock didn't actually cause electrocution, but it was a damn good simulator.

"I'm not telling you anything Salamander," the man said with a satisfied smile on his face. Hissing in frustration Natsu turned the voltage up a notch higher and set the duration for ten seconds instead of five. This time there was an audible buzz and the man; he had said his name was Trevor Sentel, winced.

"It's in your best interests if you do pal," Natsu growled. "What does Grimoire Heart need the detectors for?" The snicker in response made the pinkette want to rip his hair out. He had half a mind to just pour truth serum down this guy's throat. As retaliation Natsu turned the voltage up by five more notches, making it the equivalent of getting strongly electrocuted. "Are you willing to talk now? Otherwise I swear I'll turn this voltage up so much you'll get knocked out." At the threat Trevor seemed to sober up and realize that he might actually be in danger. _Took him long enough_ , Natsu thought.

"Ok, ok I'll talk," their captive relented and Natsu gave a patronizing smile.

"Good. Now, what do you need the detectors for?" Natsu repeated the question he had been asking this person for the past twenty minutes. "What is Grimoire Heart planning?"

"This actually didn't come from Grimoire Heart," Trevor confessed with a gleeful tone. Both Natsu and Gray's eyes narrowed and they shared a glance.

"Seems like Hibiki was right," Gray commented. "Did this come from Jude Heartfilia?"

"Didn't come from anyone else." The whole situation struck Natsu as odd. Detectors and security weren't normally what Jude Heartfilia dealt with. Most of the time he was after weapons for attempting to take over businesses by force. Lots and lots of force.

"And what does he need this for?" Natsu said through gritted teeth.

"How would I know? I'm just told orders, I don't know his plans!" Trevor defended himself from the question. When Natsu arched an eyebrow the man resumed pleading. "Honestly, I don't know what he's planning on doing! None of the others that I have with me know either I swear!"

"His brain waves and heart rate say he isn't lying, and you can't fake brain waves," Gray commented and Natsu released his breath with a hiss.

"Tell me this then. Have you heard anything about a girl named Evelyn?" This was the last question Natsu had to ask, if he didn't he would have felt guilty.

"I've heard the name somewhere before," Trevor said slowly, "I forgot where though." Natsu slammed his hand down on the table in frustration. He jumped up from his chair and leaned over their captive menacingly.

"Would you like some incentive to remember?" Natsu growled. The man shook his head and Natsu took a deep breath to keep from killing this guy on the spot. "Gray, give him some of that memory remover medicine that we have. Give him just enough to erase the past couple of hours. When that's done grab another one." Gray nodded once and walked the man out of the room. Trevor was pleading and begging but Natsu wasn't hearing it. He didn't enjoy wiping people's memories or being cruel to them in general, but if it came between one person and the safety of Fairy Tail, his family, he would do it.

While Natsu and Gray were dealing with their captives, Lucy was becoming fast friends with a lot of the girls in Fairy Tail. She had happily been chattering with Levy about books and Mirajane, along with her little sister Lisanna, were telling Lucy about everybody currently in the room. The blonde had been learning a lot, but nothing about what Fairy Tail actually was or what they did. Every time she tried to steer the conversation in that direction, Mirajane or Lisanna would start talking about another person or Levy would mention a book that had just been published. _If they're not going to tell me, I just might have to find out myself._ "Levy, Natsu said that you could get my eyes scanned into the security system. Can we do that now?"

"Of course! While I get the technology set up, Mira would you mind giving Lucy her Fairy Tail mark now?"

"That's a good idea," Mirajane agreed as the bluenette hopped off the barstool and got in the elevator. Mirajane rummaged for something behind the bar for something before straightening back up. "What color ink do you want?"

"Is this like a tattoo?" Lucy inquired nervously.

"In theory, yes; but it's painless," Lisanna explained, putting some of the blonde's nerves at ease. She would go along with the idea, it's not like there was anything else she could do, but the idea of being marked permanently didn't sit well. In Lucy's mind, getting a mark of a gang was like taking an oath that you could never break. Natsu hadn't been kidding when she said that she was going to join Fairy Tail; the mark that she was about to get meant that she could never leave, _ever_. But then, did she really want to? She didn't have anywhere else to go, but even if she could go back home, would she? Would she want to go back to a somewhat abusive father who didn't care for her? Lucy was positive Natsu had ulterior motives for having her join, but he had treated her well, despite the fact that they'd only known each other for less than 24 hours, he had a birthday cake made for her. However, that didn't mean she wasn't suspicious and wary.

"Um, I'll have pink," Lucy responded.

"Where do you want it?"

"My right hand, I guess," the blonde decided.

"Awesome, you're officially a Fairy Tail member now!" Mira announced. "Do you want to have a piece of cake?" Lucy nodded and a thick slice of chocolate cake was put in front of her.

"We should be glad that Erza's not here," Lisanna giggled. "She would've gone on a rampage because the cake wasn't strawberry."

"And Erza is?" Lucy asked after swallowing a bite of chocolate cake.

"She's probably the strongest female in Fairy Tail and she has an unhealthy obsession with strawberry cake. She can even beat Natsu in a fight. He won't admit that though," Mirajane confided. "Don't tell him I said that."

"Ok I won't," Lucy laughed.

"Are you ready Lucy? This won't take long," Levy called from across the room. Lucy nodded and got up from her seat.

"Can you make sure nobody eats this?" Lucy requested to the two sisters she was sitting with.

"You can count on us," Lisanna gave her a thumbs up and Lucy smiled and waved goodbye.

"Ok I'm ready to go," Lucy told her new, short friend. "So what do you do here?"

Levy pressed the button for a floor towards the top of the building. "I do a lot of research and create prototypes. Freed mostly works with the technology, you know hacking and things like that, but sometimes he and I work together."

"What do you research?" Lucy asked, genuinely curious.

"Mostly ways to improve existing technology and coming up with weapon concepts and designs. Right now I'm beta-testing a thermal imaging device that Natsu wanted developed. He's planning on using it for building infiltration. This one is different than most because it can see _through_ buildings because of a certain piece of technology that," and she went off to explain how the new device work and Lucy tried to keep up with the scientific explanations.

"And what does Natsu want this for?" Lucy pressed for more detail.

"Well he said that it was a way to check buildings to make sure they're empty if they're about to raid it. He really hates torturing and being cruel but he's told us before that making sure Fiore and Fairy Tail stay relatively safe is his first priority." _So he isn't all that bad after all_ , Lucy thought to herself. "And here we are," Levy announced as they stopped in front of a scanner embedded in the wall and a panel was placed next to it. Levy tapped several buttons on the panel before turning to her new friend. "Ok, so all you have to do is just let the scanner scan your eyes and then you'll be good to go."

Hesitantly, Lucy put her eyes up to the scanner and flinched at how bright it was. "I know it's bright, but you have to keep your eyes open," Levy instructed. Lucy nodded in acknowledgement and put her face in front of the scanner again. The scanner flashed bright green before Levy told her she was done. _Now that I've had my eyes scanned, I can go anywhere in the building I want. And that means I can learn more about Fairy Tail, Natsu, and my father._ "Are you ready to go back down?" Levy asked.

"I'll be down in a minute, I'm seeing spots from the scanner. I'll be fine in a minute or two." Lucy felt bad lying to her new friend but she didn't know when she would get the opportunity to snoop around.

"Ok then, if you're sure," Levy consented before turning and getting in the elevator. When the elevator doors shut Lucy wandered around the floor she was on. All of the walls had multiple panels that had different information displayed on the screen. Lucy wished she could understand what they were all saying. In the middle of the room was a large, interactive map of Fiore inlaid in a white table. Different parts of the map were colored differently, some were dark red and others were a light green. Lucy tapped one of the green areas and different videos and news articles covered the map. Every single criminal act was recorded and in one corner were several line graphs measuring the amount of criminal activity over different lengths of time. In another corner was messages from a gang called Blue Pegasus which ranged from what seemed like reports to messages asking if somebody wanted to hang out or if two representatives could meet for a business negotiation. From the line graphs, it seemed that this region had little criminal activity. From this Lucy deduced that the red zones probably meant that they were more dangerous or needed to be watched more. Lucy pressed the exit button and selected a region that was yellow. Before she could read and analyze the information that was provided the elevator door opened and Lucy froze.

"Hey Levy, wait what the hell? Why are you up here?" a man with orange hair asked her.

"Um, who are you?" Lucy asked cautiously.

"I'm Jet, I work with Levy," the male in front of her introduced.

"You're the one who didn't trust me," Lucy remembered, "you're the one that Natsu yelled at."

"I still don't trust you, especially since you're snooping up here in our surveillance room. Come on we're going to Natsu although I doubt he'll do anything about it. For some reason he trusts you," he rolled his eyes. Lucy stayed quiet, she was nervous about what Natsu would do. He wouldn't send her back home, but she shuddered to think about what he was going to stay. From what she had observed Natsu could be pretty cold but hopefully he would let her off easily. Could he really blame her for being curious?

"This is a misunderstanding, I have no ulterior motives, I swear!" Lucy pleaded as Jet firmly grabbed her wrist and dragged her into the elevator.

"Let Natsu hook you up to a lie detector and then we'll see." In between the time it took for them to enter the elevator and go up to the top floor there was no conversation between the two. Lucy trailed behind Jet with her head hung low in anxiety. Jet's grip had gotten tighter and Lucy silently winced and had a feeling that bruises would form in the next day or two. When they reached a solid oak door that was surrounded by windows that had shades pulled across them, Jet knocked.

"Who is it?" Natsu asked through an intercom.

"Jet, I think there's something you should know." With a heavy sigh from Natsu, the door swung open.

"Lucy, what are you doing here?" Natsu asked curiously.

"I found her sneaking around in the observation and security room on the twentieth floor. I thought you should know since she could be gathering information for her father."  
"Why would I do that?" Lucy demanded. "I hate my father!"

"I don't believe it," Jet argued and Natsu massaged his temples and released a sigh.

"Jet, get out. Please."

"Why?" Jet spluttered. "You can't just let her get away with this!"

"Jet I just had to interrogate five stubborn people who gave me no information whatsoever so I am not in the best mood right now. It's in your best interests if you _get out now_ before I get angry." The threat was delivered through gritted teeth and Jet squeaked before sprinting out of the room. "So what exactly were you doing?" Natsu asked when Jet left the room.

"Levy took me to get my eyes scanned and I poked around because I was curious and because no one was telling me anything about what Fairy Tail is and what you guys do!" Lucy defended herself

"What did you see?" Natsu continued his questioning before glancing up at here. "Please sit down." Lucy took a seat before answering.

"I just looked at that interactive map. I saw one of those green regions that had messages from a group called Blue Pegasus," Lucy admitted.

"Did any of it seem familiar to you? You didn't recognize any of the names there?" Lucy shook her head and Natsu was silent for a moment.

 _If I just let this go unpunished, people might see that as suspicious. But I don't want to overreact._ Maybe if there was a way to prove that she was loyal and that she had no ill will towards Fairy Tail or any of their allies it would reassure everyone that Lucy was trustworthy. Natsu believed her when she said she wasn't going to give any information back to her father, but no one else might see her as innocent and he didn't want her to have enemies. He had promised that she would grow to love Fairy Tail and making people hate her wasn't really a good start to that. Reaching a decision, Natsu nodded, mostly to himself more than anyone. "I'll let this slide," he said.

"Thank you so much, I swear I didn't mean anything by it-." Before she could continue the pinkette held up his hand to stop her rambling.

"I'll let this slide," he repeated. "On one condition." At that Lucy froze and looked at him with apprehension.

"What do I have to do?"

"You have to prove to everyone, not just me, that you don't want to betray Fairy Tail. I might believe you have on intention to, but I don't know how many people will feel the same way. So to prove you're trustworthy, you're going to start running missions and jobs with Erza, Gray, and I. Once Erza returns anyway." Lucy's brown eyes widened with fear and she seemed to shrink into her seat.

"Isn't there anything else I can do? Let me do research with Levy or work with Mirajane and Kinana, but I don't want to be running jobs!"

"If you work with Levy and her team, they might think that you're trying to gain information. I guess to make this seem convincing we have to appear that we're keeping an eye on you. You'll continue living at my mansion up until everyone in the gang thinks you're trustworthy." Lucy was speechless. She wasn't cut out for being on jobs with Fairy Tail, let alone Fairy Tail's leader. But once again, Natsu had her backed into a corner. While she _could_ defy his consequences, Lucy had a feeling that the effects of that would be far less harsh.

"Thank you," was all Lucy said in response. Natsu raised an eyebrow as he regarded the blonde with her gaze looking interest at the floor.

"What are you thanking me for?" Natsu asked although he knew perfectly well why.

"For being lenient, Jet said that you would give me a terrible punishment, or he implied it anyway," Lucy said in response her gaze still on the floor.

"So you're fine with what I'm telling you to do?"

"Not necessarily but I really have no other option," Lucy answered. Natsu knew that she still didn't trust him, or Fairy Tail for that matter. And she had no reason to, but the only way to show that they _were_ a good group was to expose her to what they did and what they fought to protect. Besides, Natsu considered Lucy too valuable to let her get away. Natsu nodded in satisfaction with her answer before clearing his throat and standing up.

"Good. Now that that's settled, do you want to head back down and eat some cake?"

"That sounds great," Lucy agreed readily. As she got up a traditional picture frame caught her eye. The photo showed Natsu with his arm around a younger, shorter teenager with long black hair and the same dark eyes as the pinkette. They both had bright smiles on their faces and Lucy couldn't help but smile. "Who's the girl in the picture?" Lucy asked and Natsu visibly tensed.

"A friend," he replied shortly before holding the door open. "Come on, all the cake is going to be gone if we don't hurry up."

"But who is she? A girlfriend?" Lucy persisted, not satisfied with his answer,

"No, God no. She's just a friend, I told you. Now _let's go_." There was a warning in his voice that hinted that Natsu would lose it if she kept up this line of question.


	4. Chapter 4

A week had gone by since Lucy's somewhat forced joining of Fairy Tail and nothing particularly exciting had happened. She had complied with Natsu's requests to keep living at his house and Lucy never went anywhere without him, against her will of course. But a tentative companionship formed between the two, not necessarily based on trust but based on the idea that they were going to be stuck with each other for a while so they should at least make attempts to be friendly. Lucy still wanted to know more about the pinkette's history, but she didn't push him, afraid of how he might react. The blonde still hadn't been clued into anything going on but unbeknownst to her, and the majority of the gang, that was going to change soon.

It was a normal day in the Fairy Tail headquarters skyscraper; everyone was talking, laughing, fighting, or were somewhere else in the building doing work. However there was a buzz in the air and everyone seemed on edge. As far as the members of Fairy Tail were concerned, nothing had happened but there seemed to be an ominous feeling in the air that whatever 'peace' Fiore had would soon come crashing down. The nonchalant, carefree air dissipated quickly when a teenage girl with long red hair marched out of the elevator and went straight to Natsu.

"We need to talk in your office," was all the redhead had said before the pinkette nodded and gestured Gray and a long-haired bluenette over.

"Lucy come on, you're coming with us," Natsu called and Lucy gulped. Whatever was going on she didn't want to be a part of it. She whimpered before she was given a pat on the back by Levy.

"You'll be fine Lu, go on," she tried to comfort her new friend and, quite reluctantly, Lucy dragged herself over to the group of four waiting in the elevator for her to join. The redhead turned around to look at Lucy once the elevator doors closed.

"So it's true, Lucy Heartfilia did join Fairy Tail," she commented. Her tone was neutral and her face was an emotionless mask.

"Yeah, that's me," Lucy laughed weakly and tried to disguise how nervous she was. "And you are?"

"I'm Erza," was all she said before holding out a hand. Lucy shook it once and then withdrew, standing in the corner of the elevator. The rest of the ride continued in silence except for the classic jazz music playing in the elevator. Natsu groaned and hit his head on the elevator wall.

"And I'm Wendy," the bluenette piped up. "I'm Natsu's and Gajeel's little cousin."

"Nice to meet you," Lucy replied and they fell into silence.

"Why does Gajeel always change the music?" Natsu whined. "He knows I don't like jazz! What kind of cousin forces the rest of their family to endure this crap?"

"Natsu," Erza said severely. "He's your cousin and you should treat him as family. I won't hear any excuses," she reprimanded and Natsu cowered and stuttered out an "aye" in response. Once the elevator delivered them at the observation room Lucy had gotten caught in just a couple of days ago, the group of five got out and they surrounded the large interactive map of Fiore.

"Now Erza, what did you want to say?" Natsu asked once the five of us were settled.

"Are you aware of the rumors about a planned raid on a government outpost?" was how the redhead began her conversation. Everyone except Natsu shook their heads.

"I have heard a rumor or two but the only thing I heard was that whoever was planning this was after some sort of government documents. As far as I know, nothing else has been found out." Erza nodded.

"That's about as much as I have heard as well."

"Do we know where the raid is going to be?" Gray asked and Erza bit her lip.

"Not exactly, no. There are many places where that could happen though. There's Clover, Hargeon, Acalypha is where the national treasury is, Era, and of course Crocus," Erza listed and Natsu groaned in frustration.

"Does anyone else know about this?" Natsu asked in frustration. "We can't cover all of these at once! All of those places are too far away. We can cover Clover or Hargeon but that's about it."

"Why don't we ask Sabertooth, Lamia Scale, and Blue Pegasus?" Gray suggested. "Sting and Rogue are your cousins and they have helped us before. I don't think they would mind."

"Would you mind asking Lyon then if Lamia Scale would want to help?" Erza asked. While the four gang members were swapping names and locations, Lucy lost track of who was saying what and who was related to who. The blonde sat quietly soaking in as much information as she could. She realized that these must have been some of the people and groups that her father had interacted with and now, more than ever, she wondered about what exactly her father had done to be put in a position where he was detested by Fairy Tail, and Lucy guessed, all of their allies.

"What do you think Lucy?" Natsu directed a question at the blonde who was lost in thought.

"Why are you asking me? You sound like you have things figured out," Lucy pointed out but Fairy Tail's leader shook his head.

"No, I want to hear what you think," he insisted stubbornly and Lucy sighed. She looked at the interactive map where several cities were circled and arrows pointed from gang names to potential cities they could cover.

"Well, I agree. There's far too much land for all of us to cover, even if we do send everybody out."

"That's it?" Natsu prompted. He couldn't help it; he felt slightly disappointed that she hadn't contributed anything to the conversation but if she wasn't going to speak he wouldn't force her. "Well that decides it. Gray, can you go tell Warren to get in touch with Lamia Scale, Sabertooth, and Blue Pegasus? I want to discuss this with them face to face."

"Why can't you do it yourself pyro?" Gray retorted and Natsu's eye twitched.

"Will you do it or do I have to force you?" the pinkette growled in response. Before they could lunge at each other, Erza caught them by the collars of their shirt and slammed their foreheads together, leaving the two teenagers crumpled on the ground. "Ow, my head," Natsu whined.

"That was uncalled for," Gray complained as he massaged his head to get the pain to go away.

"It's ok Gray, you don't have to tell Warren, I'll do it for you," Wendy reassured him and the bluenette went over to a panel, pressed a button, and waited while a dial tone was resounding throughout the otherwise quiet room. When the call was received Wendy began talking and asked if he could relay a message to Sabertooth, Lamia Scale, and Blue Pegasus to come to Magnolia to talk about something.

The person, Lucy assumed this was Warren, answered with a "will do" and hung up.

"How soon will they get here?" Lucy asked and Natsu shrugged.

"If they're not assholes sometime within the next day and if they are two or three days at most." With that Natsu glanced down at a watch he had around his wrist before clearing his throat. "We should get going Lucy. Tomorrow's going to be a long day. Good night guys, see you tomorrow."

"Have a good night!" Lucy said goodbye and followed the pinkette out the door. They made a quick stop at the level where everyone normally hung out to retrieve Happy before continuing down. When they reached the garage floor, Lucy noticed that another teenager with long, out-of-control hair, red eyes, and piercings was waiting for them. _This is Gajeel_ , Lucy thought. _I wasn't able to really see him when he found me because it was dark._

"So Salamander, I heard you called Sting, Rogue, and the others," Gajeel stated.

"Very good, so you were paying attention today and not spending the whole time glaring at Jet and Droy for hanging out with Levy." At that statement Natsu's cousin had a scowl on his face and if Lucy didn't know better, she would even say there was a blush.

"You didn't have to call them in," Gajeel opinionated and Natsu shook his head.

"I'm not sending a bunch of our friends out all over the country to deal with something we know nothing about. The others will help us, I'm sure of it."

"Yes but-," Natsu cut Gajeel off with a growl.

"It's already done, they're all coming tomorrow and I'm sure if you asked nicely, Rogue will fight you again even though you kicked his ass last time." With his cousin's mouth hanging open Natsu strode right past him and told the valet to get his car. "C'mon Lucy, we're going home."

"It's freezing in here," Lucy shivered when the two got in the car. "Can you turn the heat on?"

"Yeah sure," Natsu agreed and tapped some commands into the control panel. "Now to see if this GPS will work." The car was silent before Natsu groaned and hit his head against the headrest. "Why does this never work?"

"Maybe because it's stupid like you," Happy suggested and Natsu gritted his teeth.

"Get off my case, furball," Natsu growled and Lucy giggled at their behavior. "Finally! Let's get home."

"So Sting and Rogue are your cousins?" Lucy asked as the car drove them out to Natsu's mansion.

"Yeah, Gajeel and Wendy are my cousins too. We haven't seen Sting and Rogue in a while though. We're all too busy to meet up and hang out since Sting is in charge of Sabertooth."

"Do you think they'll bring Lector and Frosch?" Happy asked from where he was laying down in the backseat.

"I can't imagine they wouldn't little buddy. We don't go anywhere without our cats." Lucy was deep in thought and was wondering what the next day would bring. Maybe she could find something about her father although she doubted anyone would tell her.

"Hey Natsu, do you think my father could be involved in this?" the blonde voiced her question.

"Nah, he doesn't have a reason to steal stuff from the government, he _is_ one of the higher-up aristocrats isn't he?" Lucy bit her lip and stayed quiet in response. The contempt in his voice was obvious. The car ride continued in silence; Natsu had his head resting on the back of his seat and Lucy's forehead was pressed up against the window before her eyes fluttered shut.

Natsu cast a glance at his new friend and sighed. While he didn't want to leave her in the dark, he felt that he didn't have much of a choice. While he knew for a fact that Lucy didn't trust them all that much, the idea of telling her that her father was on the top of their high-priority list didn't seem appealing. Especially if he threw in the fact that her father had potentially kidnapped his adopted sister.

"On another note, do Gajeel and Rogue have some kind of rivalry?" Lucy asked and Natsu was torn out of his thoughts.

"You can say that," he chuckled. "All of us get along well, but the first time we met each other, well, all of us got into a huge fight. Gajeel and I won of course, and Sting and Rogue have let go of it, but they normally challenge us to a fight every time they come over. It's tradition at this point." Lucy laughed softly before resting her head on the cold window again.

"I never had any family members like that. My mother was an only child and my father has a brother but he lives in Alvarez, so we never saw him." She laughed bitterly, "I'm sorry you probably don't care." The pinkette sitting next to her stayed silent. Natsu felt bad for Lucy, he genuinely did. Being alone, with no one who particularly cared about him, was only a fear although it wasn't irrationally based. His father had left him by himself for months after all but the fear gradually faded away into nothing more than a shadow. Now the only thing he worried about was keeping everybody safe, at whatever cost.

"I'm sorry," he finally said in a slightly sympathetic tone. "I can't imagine how lonely you must have felt." Lucy was staring at him in amazement at his response. She knew her reaction was probably stupid, from how she had seen him behave, he cared greatly about all of the people he worked with. What surprised her though was that he was sympathizing with her even though she was brand new and still considered, by the majority of the Fairy Tail members anyway, untrustworthy. "You don't have to look so surprised," he scoffed.

"He liiiikes you," a certain cheeky, blue cat in the back seat teased.

"Shut it Happy, I do not!" Natsu protested. "Just ignore him, he doesn't know what he's talking about," Natsu advised his companion. Lucy just nodded with a small smile on her face. "So how do you like Fairy Tail so far?" There was no answer and Natsu sighed. He could see from her reflection in the window that she was still awake but she wasn't talking but this was hardly a rare occurrence. Natsu figured out that anytime he asked her a question or tried to start a conversation she wouldn't talk.

All too soon the city of Magnolia receded into the dark background and they were driving through the surrounding countryside to get to Natsu's mansion. Lucy still had her head against the window, not even trying to talk to Natsu when he attempted to start conversations. While he seemed to trust her pretty easily, Lucy still minimally trusted him. Despite how he was treating her well and taking care of her, she couldn't rest easy while she didn't know what his intentions were. "I'll only start talking once you tell me more about yourself," Lucy finally replied and Natsu sighed.

"Why are you making this so damn difficult?" Natsu complained. "I'm being generous here but is how you're living right now not up to your standards Princess?" Lucy knew the nickname was used in a sarcastic way due to the scowl on his face and the annoyance in his voice.

"How can I tell you things about myself when I know next to nothing about you? For all I know you're holding me ransom to gain a lot of money!" she argued back and Natsu whirled around in his seat to face her.

"Lucy, if I wanted to hurt you you'd be dead by now," he told her in a voice that conveyed he was speaking the truth. "But hey if you're not happy here, I could just give you back to your father and let him marry you off to some idiot you haven't met." And Lucy froze. There wasn't a shadow of a doubt in the blonde's mind that Natsu wouldn't follow through on that threat.

"No, please don't, I don't mean anything by it. I've met so many amazing people and made some friends and I haven't ever really had friends before. Please, please don't send me away." She paused for a deep breath before falling quiet again. The ride to Natsu's mansion continued in silence and as Lucy leaned her forehead against the cold window again, she managed to fall asleep.

The next morning as she and Natsu ate breakfast together was quiet and awkward. Both were too stubborn to apologize for the argument that they had had the previous night and yet Lucy wanted to dissolve the tension between them. Lucy bit her lip and cast her glance down at the granite countertop while Natsu busied himself with making coffee. "Good morning," Happy yawned as he flew into the kitchen and made himself at home on one of the barstools next to the one Lucy was sitting in.

"Morning little buddy, how are you?" Natsu asked as he dumped sugar in his coffee cup.

"Good, hello Lucy," Happy greeted the blonde as he opened the refrigerator door in search of something.

"What are you looking for Happy?" Lucy asked and interrupted the blue cat in the middle of his search.

"A fish. Natsu do we have any fish left?" Happy asked.

"Check the freezer," was all Natsu said as he leaned against the island. "So, today the people from Sabertooth, Lamia Scale, and Blue Pegasus are coming. Are you excited?"

"Kind of," Lucy admitted. "They don't seem to be as dramatic as Fairy Tail is." Natsu snickered to himself. If only she knew, but Lucy would be proven wrong soon enough.

Once the group arrived at Fairy Tail headquarters and travelled up to what Lucy called the 'hang-out floor' she noticed eight unfamiliar faces socializing with everyone in the room. As soon as they entered the room two teenagers came running up to greet them. Well actually, to greet Natsu. Lucy didn't seem to attract any attention from the two strangers, but she was ok with that. "Hey Sting, Rogue. Long time no see," Natsu greeted his two cousins. "How have you guys been?"

"Busy, Jiemma and his group started stirring up trouble again, and that was a pain to deal with," the blonde sighed. "But it's taken care of, for the most part. At least for the time being anyway." Natsu nodded in sympathy before turning to introduce Lucy to his cousins.

"Lucy, these are my cousins, Sting," he pointed to the blonde teen with single crystal ear piercing, "and Rogue," Natsu pointed to his other cousin with shaggy black hair.

"Wow, I didn't think the rumors that you actually took Lucy Heartfilia to Fairy Tail were true," Sting laughed.

"I didn't have much of a choice," Natsu snapped defensively. "She saw us on our raid at one of the Oracion Seis' warehouses. I couldn't just let her go."

"Should we all go up now with the others?" Rogue suggested and Natsu nodded.

"Gray, Erza, and everyone visiting, we're going up now," he announced and everyone shuffled into the elevator. The fast ride up to the top floors were filled with joyful conversation, jokes, and arguments. Lucy was quite content to stay where she was in the corner and take everything in. When the elevator stopped, the group of twelve stumbled into a hallway with white floors and a wall made out of glass so the view was of downtown Magnolia. Natsu lead them past door after door until he stopped and scanned his eyes at a particular one. All of the group followed him and entered a room with a large white table and empty white walls. Lucy guessed that both the table and the walls were interactive and would be used in the discussion and debates ahead. Once everyone found a spot Natsu cleared his throat.

"Does everyone know why we're here?" he asked as he made eye contact with everyone in the room.

 **I know, I'm a cruel person, but I'll see you guys soon!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hi guys! So like I promised, I'm updating another fanfic since I was having less writer's block with this one. Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy it and this chapter honestly was a lot of fun to write.**

The response Natsu got wasn't one he was expecting. First of all somebody looked around before asking, "why isn't Mermaid Heel here?"

"Kagura got in touch with me and said that they're dealing with some trouble right now, so they can't come," Erza answered.

Then one of the four representatives from Blue Pegasus had gotten up and started pointing to Lucy. "Aren't you going to introduce us?" Natsu sighed and rolled his eyes with impatience.

"It's ok Natsu. My name is Lucy," the blonde introduced herself.

"What's a pretty girl like you working with a group like this? If you want, you could join Blue Pegasus and-," he was cut off with a low, warning growl.

"Don't you dare finish that sentence Hibiki," Natsu threatened. "She's not going with you perverts anywhere, including your headquarters. Lucy, the four perverts over there are Hibiki Lates, Ren Akatsuki, Eve Tearm, and Ichiya Kotobuki," Natsu told her as he pointed to each of them respectively.

"Yes, if you try anything I'll be forced to kick you out of the building again," Erza agreed.

"But you're just so beautiful Erza," Ichiya, who appeared to be their leader, complimented. I could see the redhead's jaw tighten and she hit his jaw with a strong punch, pushing him into the wall.

"And this is why our walls are unbreakable," Gray explained in a slightly amused tone.

"Now stop acting so immature and sit down so we can continue with this meeting," Erza ordered and nobody questioned her. If anything everyone, especially Natsu and Gray, seemed to cower in their seats.

"Since we already introduced Blue Pegasus, I think we should introduce her to everyone else," Wendy commented. "Lucy the girl with pink hair is my friend Chelia Blendy from Lamia Scale. Lyon Vastia is Gray's cousin and that's Jura Neekis," Wendy informed her.

"And you already met us," Sting said after Wendy finished talking. So can we start this meeting now?"

"So for those of you who don't know, some group is planning an attack on a city that's important to the government for some top secret files. We've narrowed the cities down to Clover, Era, Crocus, Hargeon, and Acalypha."

"Why would Hargeon be a target? There's no government building there," Chelia questioned.

"We think it's a likely target since there's so much trade and Fiore has a smaller branch of the treasury there, although it's not as big as Acalypha," Lyon explained. Lucy was surprised that both Fairy Tail and Lamia Scale would allow people as young as Chelia and Wendy to be part of their dark, violent world. The thought made her heart hurt for them, for not having a normal childhood. But at the same time they were surrounded by people who cared about them, regardless of their background. And Wendy _was_ Natsu, Gajeel, Sting, and Rogue's younger cousin and Lucy doubted that they would let her do things that they considered dangerous.

"Now, we don't know what type of files they want, let alone what group is even planning this raid. Hibiki have you found out anything more about this?" Rogue asked. Natsu leaned over to whisper in Lucy's ear.

"Hibiki is an incredible hacker and he has access to every security device and piece of technology in Fiore. Warren, who's in charge of communications and hacking for Fairy Tail, works with him a lot." Lucy nodded filing the information away for later for future reference.

"I've heard rumors that it's going to be a group working under the Oracion Seis, but no one can confirm it. The location of this attack is still unknown to everyone," Hibiki reported.

"Can you try hacking some places to try and get information?" Erza asked. The Blue Pegasus member shrugged.

"I could try, but I can't promise that I'll find anything," he said before turning his attention to the interactive smart table and began, what Lucy could only assume, was the hacking that he promised Erza.

"While that's great that we know the group, we all have to cover the cities so who's taking which one?" Lyon asked.

"Maybe we could also call Makarov to see what he thinks," Wendy piped up.

"It's not like it would hurt," Gray agreed with a shrug and Natsu took the advice and tapped a couple of buttons on the table in front of him and the sound of a phone ringing filled the room while three dots were blinking on one of the walls.

"We'll see if he even answers," Natsu rolled his eyes in annoyance. Everybody loved Makarov, he had been in charge for many years, but he was also a bit too fond of alcohol, especially now that he had taken the job as advisor and barely had any work to do. After several more moments of silence the call ended and Natsu wanted to punch something; maybe he could just settle for punching Gray after this meeting ended.

"What do we do now?" Eve asked.

"It's obvious, each of our groups will take a city and protect it, since we have no idea what's going to happen where," Lyon answered.

"We still don't know who's going to cover what smart one," Gray scoffed at his cousin.

"Well if Lamia Scale were in charge of this, we already would have had everything figured out," he boasted and Gray jumped up from his seat ready to fight. A loud cough and glare from Erza got the two cousins to settle down although there were still glares when they thought no one was watching. _They must have had some sort of rivalry when they were younger_ , Lucy thought. _Maybe I can ask Gray what it was_.

"Thank you Erza," Natsu acknowledged with a tilt of his head. "Now, now that you two strippers have finally settled down maybe we can actually get something accomplished.

"Don't you dare try to blame this on me!" Gray snapped while Natsu ignored his friend's outburst.

"Gray, I think if you want to get anything done without being knocked unconscious you should sit down," Wendy cautioned and Gray, who still had a scowl on his face, sat back down stared at the wall ahead of him.

"Erza, can you ask Jellal to see if he can do anything for us?" Jura asked, breaking his silence.

"I haven't heard from Jellal in months," Erza mused with a heavy sigh. "If he doesn't want to be found, no one will be able to get in touch with him; but I can try." She tapped a couple of buttons in front of her and three dots blinked on one of the walls. After two minutes the ringing stopped and a man with blue hair and a red tattoo under one eye appeared. Lucy tried to conceal her gasp of surprise. This was Jellal Fernandez, he was even more mysterious and considered more dangerous than Fairy Tail. He had even landed in jail a couple of times. How did Erza know him?

"Hello Erza," he greeted with a slight tilt of his head.

"Oh, he's on the phone with his girlfriend!" a girl laughed in the background and the felon's face turned scarlet. "Tell Erza we say hi!"

"That's enough Meredy," he commanded although there was still laughter and "aww"s from several people. "What is it Erza?" Jellal asked ignoring the noise around him.

"Have you heard about the upcoming raid at all?" Natsu asked, cutting off Erza before she could get a word out. "If you have we could really use your help."

"We have yes, we were actually just wondering what cities you were going to monitor," Jellal answered with a faintly amused smile on his face.

"Lamia Scale can cover Hargeon," Jura spoke up.

"Wonderful, what about you Sting?" Natsu said as he scribbled the letters "LS" with a stylus on the map in front of him.

"We can go to Acalypha," was all the blonde said and Rogue nodded in confirmation.

"Blue Pegasus?"

"Crocus," Ichiya said and Natsu nodded.

"Which leaves you with Era, since Fairy Tail can cover Clover," Natsu nodded towards the bluenette on the screen and Jellal paled.

"We can't set foot in Era without getting arrested, are you out of your mind?" a woman who seemed to be in her twenties with long black hair came into view.

"Calm down Ultear, we can sort this out reasonably," Jellal said. "But you are right, we cannot go to Era unless we want to wind up behind bars again." Natsu muttered something unintelligible under his breath before looking back up to the wall.

"Blue Pegasus will cover Era then, so you can get Crocus and that's final," he announced. "We can't risk Crime Sorciere sneaking right under the council's nose, they'd be caught within moments of entering the city. Crocus is larger and doesn't have as strict security so they should be fine."

"Very well then, we'll go there immediately and keep you updated. You'll be in Clover then?" Natsu nodded in response. "Excellent, goodbye and keep safe."

"Bye Ultear!" Lyon and Gray yelled and the woman waved at them with a small smile. The video disappeared and the room was silent.

"How do Gray and Lyon know Ultear?" Lucy asked out loud.

"She's our cousin, we lived with her and her mother, our aunt, for a while before our aunt died in a fight," Gray explained with a mourning expression.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Lucy said, not really knowing what else to say.

"Well if that's it then we had best be going now and start preparing to monitor Hargeon," Jura announced pushing his chair back from the table and gesturing for Lyon and Chelia to follow him. Chelia and Wendy gave each other large hugs and promised to hang out soon and keep in touch. Lyon and Gray's parting was more passive, with just a simple handshake and a "take care".

"Sting, Rogue, do you want to hang around for a while more?" Natsu asked. "I know Gajeel wants to fight Rogue." The two cousins glanced at each other before nodding.

"We can stay for a bit longer," Rogue accepted the invitation. "But then we need to get going."

"Goodbye Erza, let us meet again in the future," Ichiya from Blue Pegasus said to the redhead. His only response was a slap to the face and a "get away from me you little troll!" and with that Blue Pegasus left.

"Where are Lector and Frosch?" Wendy asked the remaining two visitors as they walked out of the room and into the elevator that was playing jazz which made Natsu groan and collapse in the seat along the back wall.

"They're still down with Happy, Lily, and Charle," Sting answered. "They said coming with us would be boring."

"So when did you join Sabertooth?" Lucy asked, trying to learn more about Natsu's cousins.

"When we were around ten or so, about the same time Natsu and Wendy joined Fairy Tail and when our fathers-."

"Sting," Natsu growled shooting his cousin a glare, which obviously meant _shut up or you're going to regret it_. "You don't need to know that," Natsu dismissed what Sting was about to say with a wave of his hand. "It's not important."

"What if I want to know?" Lucy demanded. "You're not telling me anything about your past, but you seem to know everything about mine! How is that fair?"

"It's not about being fair, it's about being kept safe. The less people know about me the better, especially now since there's a price for a million jewels on my head."

"Everybody else in Fairy Tail seems to know about you!"  
"Yeah, because most of them were here when I came!"

"So what you're saying is-," Lucy started but she was interrupted by a very annoyed, angry Natsu.

"Lucy shut up!" Natsu yelled, whatever was left of his patience after the meeting had disappeared. "I'm not talking about this anymore. Go find Mirajane and Levy and hang out with them instead," he ordered harshly. Lucy seemed shocked at his outburst and her eyes seemed watery. What Natsu had just said reminded Lucy of her father and how he was constantly telling her to go to her room and to leave him alone to do his work. With no other words she turned quickly, to make sure Natsu and his cousins couldn't see her tears, and ran out of the elevator.

"Natsu, that was pretty harsh," Wendy chastised. "Lucy was just being curious, you should go apologize to her." In response to his younger cousin's suggestion, Natsu just turned around and huffed.

"I don't have to do anything," he retorted crossing his arms. "She'll get over it soon. Hey Gajeel!" Natsu shouted dropping the subject abruptly. "Rogue said he'll fight you."

"Hell yes!" Gajeel yelled.

"We'll need to make this fast," Rogue said looking at the time on the interactive wall. "Person who has more hits in five minutes wins?"  
"Sounds good to me," Gajeel agreed and took up a fighting stance. "Who's going to keep track? Shrimp will you do it?"

"Stop calling me that Gajeel!" Levy yelled as her face turned a light shade of red. "But yes, I'll do it." While everybody in the gang was focused on the fight, Mirajane turned to Lucy who had her head in her arms on the bar countertop.

"What's wrong Lucy?" she asked with concern. The blonde picked her head up off the table.

"Why is Natsu so defensive about his past?" Lucy took Mirajane by surprise. That was not what she had been expecting to hear.

"He's had a really hard life, and talking about is a really sensitive spot. If he snapped at you, which I'm guessing he did, it's because it's just a hard thing for him to talk about. Is that it?"

"Just what he said," Lucy paused to collect herself. "It just reminded me of how my father was after my mother died." Lucy stopped talking and Mirajane looked at her sympathetically.

"I'll make you a milkshake," Mirajane told her and went off to go prepare the drink. It was only then that Lucy really heard the sounds of the fight that was occurring right behind her. There were people cheering and laughing; even Rogue and Gajeel looked like they were having fun and weren't taking it too seriously. Everyone looked so happy and like they _belonged_ here. Yes, Lucy had gotten the symbol tattooed on her hand, but at that moment, she felt like an outsider.

"And time!" Levy yelled and the cousins stopped their fighting.

"Who won?" Gajeel asked impatiently. Levy counted up the number of tallies she had made on a thin tablet. Her blue eyebrows shot up when she had finished.

"Surprisingly Rogue did," she concluded. "Nice job though, Rogue only won by two hits." Gajeel fell to his knees on the floor in a state of shock.

"How?" was all he asked before Sting and Natsu burst out laughing. "Stop laughing you morons it ain't funny!" If anything that made the two leaders laugh even harder, so much so that they had to lean on each other for support.

"The look on your face was priceless," Natsu choked out as he started crying from laughing so hard.

"So worth it," Sting nodded.

"Don't you two idiots have to leave?" Gajeel whined.

"Lucy your drink is ready," Mirajane said, tearing Lucy out of her thoughts and her observations of the scene in front of her. "Are you ok?"

Lucy took a sip of the pink milkshake and sighed. "I don't feel like I belong here. Everyone seems so close and then there's me," she said almost bitterly.

"Believe it or not Lucy, everybody started out that way when they first joined. Even Natsu did," Mira mentioned which made Lucy look surprised. "I remember when that happened. He took one look at Gray and decided they were going to be enemies. Wendy had an even harder time because she's so shy and quiet in general. But it's ok, it might take a while, but eventually this will feel like home." Lucy smiled as her tears began to dry.

"Thank you Mira, I'm feeling better already."

"Oh crap, we need to get going," Natsu said as he glanced over at the smart wall. "Lucy, Gray, Wendy, Erza, come on. We're leaving."

"Don't forget your motion sickness medicine moron," Gajeel snickered and Natsu gave him a black eye before walking towards the elevator.

"Erza, are the weapons in the car?" Gray asked the redhead as the piled into the elevator."

"Yes they are, I placed them there this morning," she confirmed.

"Do you have kerosene or oil or something?" Natsu questioned as he leaned against the wall trying desperately to not look motion-sick. "You know for leaving the mark if they do so happen to attack Clover?"

"Yes and the rope is in there as well," Erza answered and Natsu nodded with a small smile on his face.

"So are you nervous Lucy?" Natsu asked as he shot the newcomer his megawatt grin that normally elicited at least some acknowledgement from her. All Lucy did this time was turn her head the other way and sniff. "Lucy?" he asked and waved a hand in front of her face. "Lucy, can you hear me?"

"Obviously she can Flame Brain but you probably pissed her off," Gray rolled his eyes at how oblivious his best friend could be.

"Natsu apologize immediately," Erza commanded giving him a look that left no room for argument.

"I'm sorry Lucy," he muttered and she still didn't make eye contact with him. "Erza, it didn't work."

"That's because you didn't mean it," Erza replied lightly. "Now lets go to the car, shall we?" Natsu gaped at her retreating back before sprinting to catch up to them. _What does she mean I didn't mean it? I don't see what I have to apologize for, Lucy was the one asking too personal questions,_ Natsu thought to himself. The whole thing didn't make any sense to him. Sure he might have been a little bit harsher than was necessary but it hadn't been that bad had it? Then something dawned on him that he hadn't considered. _That's why she's angry at me. Mavis, how could I be such an idiot?_

 **Idk if this could be considered a cliffhanger but if it is I apologize (sorry, not sorry) but I'll see you guys later!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey guys! So I updated this and I'll get my HP x FT fanfic updated soon and I'll start working on the ML FT AU also. Lately I've been working on some short one-shots for Nalu week and I'm really proud of my work so far. Anyway I'll be going on vacation soon, but don't worry! I'm bringing my computer with me so I can work on stuff and update. Anyways enjoy and I'll see you later!**

 _That's why she's angry at me,_ Natsu thought. _I didn't introduce her to Lector or Frosch and I knew she probably wanted to meet them._ Natsu lifted his head as he was going to apologize for what he believed to be the cause of her anger, but realized that she seemed to be sleeping. "What is it Flame Brain?" Gray asked. "You look like you're actually thinking." Choosing to ignore the snide comment Natsu turned to his friend.

"Do you know why Lucy's angry at me?" Natsu questioned and Gray's jaw dropped. "I think it might be because I didn't introduce her to Lector and Frosch but I'm not sure."

"How stupid can you get?" Gray asked incredulously. Before Natsu could reply Erza turned to face them with a severe expression.

"Boys, are you two fighting?"

"No ma'am," the two frenemies chorused. "Natsu was just asking about why Lucy is so upset with him," Gray explained and Erza raised an eyebrow.

"Don't tell him, he needs to figure it out for himself," was all the redhead said before turning around. "And let Lucy rest, this is her first time on a job and it's a fairly dangerous one. Are you sure this was the right decision?"

"Yes. I needed to come up with a way to have her prove that she was trustworthy. I couldn't think of anything better than this," Natsu defended himself and Erza helped up her hands in surrender.

"Ok, I was just asking."

"How long will it be before we get to Clover?" Lucy asked but it was clear that the question was not directed at Natsu.

"Not long, it's only a couple of miles away, maybe within the next fifteen minutes," Erza guessed, "assuming we don't run into any problems. The only reason why we have to cover Clover is because there's a local branch of government here where a lot of the mayors meet to discuss things. I don't know what kind of documents they have though."

"That ain't our problem," Gray reminded her. "The only thing we have to worry about is defending them."

"I think you need to fix the problem with your shirt not being on," Natsu commented with a grin.

"What the-?" True to his word when Gray looked down his shirt was gone. "What the fuck? Why does this always happen?"

"Because you're a dumbass is why," Natsu retorted before returning to looking out the window at the green meadows and fields rolling along outside the car window. "It'll be dark soon, Erza how fast is the car going?"

"It's going the speed limit Natsu, I don't know what else you expect," Wendy answered for her.

"We're in the middle of nowhere! Can't we go faster besides we can just knock out anybody that messes with us?" Seeing Erza's glare, Natsu quieted down for a while. When they finally reached the city of Clover the sun was going down and people were going back to their homes from work. Several pubs and taverns were still open but they seemed fairly empty. In fact once all the workers returned home, the streets were virtually deserted.

"Why is there nobody out?" Lucy asked. The quiet, still atmosphere made her shiver and it wasn't from the cold. Everything seemed a little _too_ quiet for a lively city like Clover.

"They probably heard about the potential raid," Wendy said as her eyes swept over the barren road.

"Grab your weapons and move to the entrances and exits of the city hall," Natsu ordered and there was a dash to the trunk of the car. Erza had grabbed several knives, all with varying degrees of length and thickness but were equally sharp. Natsu and Gray had weapons that Lucy had never seen before and was that a flamethrower that Natsu had?

"Erza?" Lucy asked as a revelation hit her. "Isn't it possible that this 'raid' could also be people hacking into the government building's computer system to get the documents?" The redhead paled and froze.

"We never thought about that did we?" she whispered, almost to herself. "That's a distinct possibility," she agreed. "Natsu," she waited until she had his attention before continuing. "Lucy mentioned the possibility that the raid might just be an attempt at hacking into the computer systems and databases." Lucy winced as Erza mentioned her name. Natsu tossed Lucy a surprised glance before nodding.

"If that's the case then Gray, I want you to tap into the computer system to be on alert for any hackers. The rest of us can handle this by ourselves." Lucy couldn't hold back the squeak at hearing that she would be doing this, _by herself_. Natsu seemed to know what she was thinking and he rolled his eyes. "Don't be an idiot, I'm not stupid enough to send you to do this by yourself. In fact, you're coming with me." _No no no, anyone but you_. She still hadn't forgiven him for his earlier words and actions. Natsu's short temper was something that she was wary of at all times, especially since he didn't seem to be particularly fond of her.

"Can't I go with Erza or Gray instead?" Lucy attempted to get Natsu to change his mind. Natsu raised an eyebrow and shook his head.

"Is there a problem with coming along with me?" Natsu answered her question with a question, something Lucy despised. "Get over yourself, you're safer with me than any of them." He chose to ignore Erza and Gray's cry of protest. "Sorry, I'm not letting you go with anyone else. Erza did you give her a weapon yet?"

"No, I apologize. This," Erza said as she presented Lucy with a gun, "is one of our newer models that's fairly easy to use. The little lens on top is to help focus on a target and it uses energy rays instead of bullets so there's more accuracy and you don't have to reload. Along with that, it was made so that if your finger is not on the trigger, it's impossible for the gun to fire. Sound easy enough?" Lucy nodded, even though she still was inexperienced and unprepared in every way possible.

"Here are the earpieces," Natsu said as he distributed the communication device. "Does everyone have their network communicator?" There were nods of affirmation before we all went our separate ways.

Natsu deactivated the alarm system with no trouble whatsoever and we entered the building without a problem. The building wasn't a skyscraper, it was only a couple of stories high but it still retained more historic, traditional architecture. And yet signs of new technology were everywhere. A holographic map displayed a 3d floor plan and could give you directions just by tapping a room. There was a white desk with a screen and holographic keyboard built into the surface, which Lucy figured was where a receptionist sat during the day. In the middle of the room, there was a large fountain shooting water high into the air. With the moonlight from the glass walls falling onto it, the water looked like liquid silver.

"I take it you've never been here before?" Natsu asked and Lucy shook her head still taking in everything around her.

"It's beautiful," Lucy said before Natsu grabbed her wrist.

"Come on, we need to move to one of the other exits, Wendy has this one covered." They continued moving through the first floor and took so many turns that Lucy lost track after the first four corners. They stopped when they reached a dimly lit hallway that had a door built into the wall. It was disguised so well, the only way Lucy had been able to tell was that behind the blinds in what space should have been a window, was a keypad and an eyescanner.

"How long will we be here?" Lucy broke the silence of the hallway with a whisper.

"Until the sun comes up. Make yourself comfortable, this is going to be a long night," Natsu advised.

"What do the network communicators do?" Lucy questioned while Natsu had his head against the cold wall with his eyes closed.

"It connects us to the building's interface so we can see all the feeds from security cameras and any other device in the building," Natsu explained, his eyes still closed.

"Isn't that a lot of information to process?"

"Not really. I learned how to manage it a long time ago," he answered with a shrug. "It was difficult at first, but not at all now. Did your father teach you how to use any technology?"

"Of course not," Lucy laughed bitterly. "It would have given me power, which was the one thing I was not allowed to have." Natsu fell silent before asking another question.

"Would you mind sharing why you're angry at me?" Lucy just lifted her head and sniffed in a way that made Natsu want to punch a wall.

"You're smart, you should be able to figure it out," she snapped back and her retort made Natsu angry.

"We need to sort this out now incase those bastards do target Clover. Now tell me why you're angry." Lucy stubbornly shook her head and Natsu felt the urge to strangle her. "Lucy," he warned. "Tell me now."

"What if I don't want to?"

"Damn it Lucy, just tell me! We can't work together if you don't clue me in on to what happened!"

"Well that's fine, I never wanted to work with you in the first place," the blonde scowled.

"Maybe I should deliver you back to your father so you can leave Fairy Tail since you obviously want to!" At that Lucy fell silent, the threat of Natsu doing that was very very real.

"No, please don't I don't want to go back. I'm sorry for asking about your history, Mira told me you were sensitive about it. I didn't know." Natsu's hard expression softened slightly.

"Can you tell me why you're angry?" he repeated, this time in a calmer tone of voice.

"Just, when you were yelling, it reminded me of what my father would say to me." Natsu closed his eyes and exhaled loudly. _I should have known_ , he thought to himself. _Of course she wouldn't want me to remind her of Jude Heartfilia._

"I'm sorry, Lucy. Really I am. I can't imagine how awful that must have been. I'll tell you about my past. One day." Lucy gave a soft smile and nodded. "So, are you liking Fairy Tail?"

"It's different than I thought it would be," Lucy admitted. "I thought everybody would be violent and bloodthirsty but they're not. Plus Mira, Lisanna, and Levy are all really nice." Natsu laughed.

"Oh if only you knew. You still need to meet Juvia too," Natsu mused. "She's infatuated with Gray, she'll probably be back tomorrow. Right now she's at the Akane resort and spa looking for a secret drug organization that's supposedly based there."

"How infatuated is she?" Lucy pressed.

"If anyone looks at the stripper for more than five seconds she calls them a love rival and will probably knock them out," Natsu chuckled at Lucy's expression. "You look terrified."

"But that's not normal," she protested. "You're just exaggerating right now." Natsu shook his head in amusement.

"It might be because Gray's the one who brought her to Fairy Tail after they got into a fight when Juvia was a part of Phantom Lord. We kicked their asses and Juvia had nowhere else to go so Gray brought her to Fairy Tail." _So they aren't really bad people, not as bad as I thought anyway_ , Lucy reasoned.

"I think everybody's wrong about you. You're not as bad as everyone thinks," Lucy commented and Natsu's smile widened so she could see his abnormally sharp incisor teeth.

"You met me when I was blowing up a building," he reminded. "And besides," his grin become more feral and dangerous, "you haven't seen us get _truly_ angry yet Princess." Lucy believed him with no doubts. "I kind of hope you'll never have to, but that won't happen." Hours seemed to pass by as Natsu and Lucy continued making small talk in the hallway they were monitoring. From the network communicators Natsu could see that nothing had happened so far and no one had spoken over the earpieces except to repeat that nothing was happening. Natsu tensed next to Lucy and she eyed him with concern.

"Are you ok?" she asked.

"Something's not right," he muttered. "The air is different, I can feel it." Now that Lucy noticed it there did seem to be a sense of foreboding lingering in the air even though, as far as she was aware, nothing had happened. Lucy shivered and pulled her knees closer to her chest.

"We'll be ok right?" she whispered, not that Lucy doubted Natsu because she didn't. She knew from news stories that he was an amazing fighter; everybody in Fairy Tail was, except maybe for Nab, who Mira had pointed out on several occasions doing nothing but hanging around one of the smart walls.

"You're a part of Fairy Tail," Natsu stated. "I won't let anyone hurt you. I promise." The reassurance made her feel slightly better and she fingered the weapon that Erza had given her.

"I have no idea how to use this," Lucy mumbled as she shifted it in her hands, judging its weight. Any pointers Natsu?"

"Like Erza said, this is a beginner's ray gun so it uses rays instead of bullets so you don't have to worry about reloading it over and over. Just press the trigger and it'll shoot. Don't worry, it'll be easier if you're in a fight. Don't overthink this stuff." Lucy nodded.

"Can I have a practice shot?" Lucy asked and Natsu laughed.

"No, but you're about to get a lot of practice," he chuckled. "Apparently, from what Gray is saying, there were multiple attacks and one of the groups just so happened to attack here," he reported cheerfully.

"How can you be so nonchalant about this?" Lucy was borderline panicking at the moment. She wasn't ready to be in a fight, let alone one over important government documents.

"You'll get used to fighting soon enough." Natsu gave a wicked grin before adding, "I'm sure you'll learn to love it." Lucy gulped and her hands shook as she held the gun carefully in her hand. "Here they come," Natsu warned right before Lucy heard voices down the hall.

"No you idiots! Check the archive room down the hall! I don't care just fucking do it!" Natsu winced at the harsh tone and felt bad for the poor people that were being bossed around.

"You know, I don't like the way you're treating your comrades," Natsu casually called as the thieves were right in front of them. "Don't you care about the people you work with?" The leader laughed.

"Why should I? These are newbies; they'll die instantaneously. This is just a test to see if they'll actually survive in our world. Surely you know what that's like? Considering this is the Heartfilia girl's first time being on a mission." Natsu's jaw tightened, as did the grip on his weapon.

"Maybe so, but I won't leave her here to die, because I actually _care_ about the people in Fairy Tail. It's something you should learn." And with that Natsu shot a blast of fire out of his gun and it slammed the group of five into the wall. Lucy froze as soon as the first strike was made. The intruders were armed with knives and guns of their own, albeit very simplistic guns that were put to shame by Fairy Tail's impressive weapon arsenal. A full-on firefight began and Natsu seemed to be having the time of his life. He was cackling gleefully while shooting with a laser gun. His other fire-throwing one was propped against the wall. "C'mon Lucy, the fatter guy is open right now. Time for your first lesson!" At that Lucy hesitantly raised her gun, looked through the lens, and fired. The victim was thrown threw the wall and into a very complicated tangle of wires, cords, and pieces of technology. As the fight wore on Natsu was switching back and forth between weapons and Lucy was strategically shooting enemies. To her delight with the gun she was using she was actually a decent shooter. Maybe not as skilled as Alzack or Bisca, but for her she was happy. To her surprise she found herself actually having a bit of fun. Having power over other people was something she had never experienced before and now that she was, for she and Natsu had the upper hand, it was a feeling she rather liked. She decided to focus on what that meant for her as a person when they weren't in a life-threatening situation.

The fight was pretty much one-sided. The would-be thieves might have been cocky at the beginning of the fight but now they were collapsed on the floor, not dead of course, but exhausted and hurt. Eventually their leader raised his hands in the universal gesture for surrender. "We give in! We give in!" he cried.

"That's such a disappointment," Natsu pouted. "Oh well, you guys will have to come with us back to headquarters for an interrogation.

"That won't be necessary," Gray objected into his earpiece. "Lyon's group already took some the ones at Hargeon hostage, as did Jellal and his group. So you can just tie them up and leave. But be sure to do a scan for technology and weapons."

"Never mind, we just get to tie you guys up and let the government take care of you. We already captured some of your comrades at different locations so we have no use for you," he smiled gleefully yet it was feral and made Lucy feel bad for their enemies. "Come on, get up," he ordered and herded them to the main entrance where Gray, Erza, and Wendy were already ready with scanners. "Be sure not to miss a single thing," Natsu reminded. "If you forget something we'll have hell to pay." Following his instructions the three started swiping their scanners over the criminals and confiscated anything that could be a weapon and any piece of technology, even if it was just a watch. Natsu meanwhile was hunched over and fiddling with rope in his hands to form the shape of the Fairy Tail symbol. He noticed the criminals' car was fairly close too.

"Erza put the chips on them and bind them while I finish this up. Lucy watched in horror as Erza roughly bound their wrists and ankles before taking a syringe to inject something into their neck.

"Don't worry Lucy," Wendy reached a hand out to the girl who had no idea what to make of the scene in front of her. "I created those myself to make sure that they were painless and wouldn't have any negative affects."

"But why are you tagging them? That seems so inhumane," Lucy asked, aghast that this sweet, younger girl was involved in and had created, things that dark.

"It's so we always know where they are, so if they decide to stir up trouble then we know where to find them immediately. It's for the public's safety Lucy, not because we're cruel people." _Especially after what happened to Evelyn,_ Wendy silently added. Thanks to that event, Natsu had decreed that everyone in the guild should have a chip so nothing like that happened ever again. Lucy bit her lip; she still didn't agree with what the little bluenette was saying, but she was in no position to argue so held her tongue and stayed silent.

The final act that night was when Natsu blew up the criminals' car and tossed a burning, rope Fairy Tail symbol on the ground.


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey guys! I'm so so sorry I didn't update. The camp I did barely gave me anytime to write, let alone upload stuff. I hope you guys can forgive me, but hopefully nalu week** ** _kind of_** **made up for it. Anyways, enjoy!**

"What's wrong Lucy?" Natsu asked as he was reclining in his seat. "You've been quiet." The blonde stayed silent and leaned her forehead against the cool window. "Lucy, c'mon talk.

"Did you have to inject them with those trackers?" she asked, still avoiding eye contact with him.

"This again?" he sighed heavily and resisted the urge to his head on the dashboard. "It's so we know if they stir up more trouble. They're nothing but a safety precaution."

"But they're still people!"

"People who could kill others unchecked," he argued back. "Believe me when I say I wouldn't do it if I didn't think it was necessary." The bitter way he said it made Lucy pause. She remembered Levy mentioning that Natsu didn't like hurting people that much but he would if push came to shove.

"If they're in prisons though-"

"You're so naïve! Just because you think prisons are supposed to be secure doesn't mean they are. Especially with all of the technology, hacking has become easier as has infiltration. The trackers are just incase so we can find them and capture them before they hurt anyone or do any damage. They're not bad." The two fell silent as Happy was sleeping happily in the back seat.

"The road to hell is paved with good intentions," Lucy said softly and Natsu glanced at her.

"All of us earned our express ticket to hell years ago. I'm not too concerned about it anymore. Besides if our reasons are justified does it even matter?" Lucy had no response to that and the rest of the car ride was silent. When they pulled up to Natsu's mansion they went their separate ways. Lucy went straight to bed while Natsu went to a room Lucy hadn't seen yet, Evelyn's room. Natsu had given his adopted little sister one of the most beautiful bedrooms in the house. She had painted the walls a light blue and there was a large glass door covered by flowing, thin white curtains that lead out to a balcony. A dark wood bed was pressed against the center of the left wall with a small night table to the right and paper lanterns of different heights hanging above it. On the wall above the bed was a calming green, blue, and purple painting of a tranquil lake. On the opposite wall was a desk and to the left of the door was a large walk-in closet.

"I'm sorry Evie," he murmured as he collapsed on the light green and white quilt on the bed. On the nightstand was a picture that Natsu had almost forgotten about. He had Evelyn up in the air, spinning around. An exhilarated grin was on her face, a mischievous one on Natsu's. Both of their dark eyes had been shining with happiness and love. Evelyn's original eye color was blue, but she decided she wanted it changed so she looked more like her new brother. Staring at the picture Natsu felt tears fill his eyes as he thought of the sort of hell his angelic sister was going through at that moment. In retaliation Natsu punched the wall, making sure not to crack it.

"Natsu," Happy called as he stuck his head into the room. "Are you ok?"

"What kind of an older brother am I?" Natsu laughed bitterly. "I couldn't even keep her safe. I broke my promise." A soft paw was placed on Natsu's knee.

"We didn't know. I'm sure if you had, this wouldn't have happened," Happy did his best to console his friend but Natsu showed no signs of acknowledging what the Exceed had just said. With a soft goodnight, Happy walked out of the room leaving Natsu alone in the room. He flicked the lights off and buried his nose in her blankets. Evelyn's scent of pine and campfire smoke still lingered on her furniture. With no one around, he let his emotions run wild and he cried and cried and cried until he fell asleep.

Natsu woke up to the sound of the door sliding open. "Natsu?" He lifted his head and looked towards the door. Lucy stood there, a look of concern on her face. "Are you ok?" He didn't say anything. Instead he just rolled over to stare at the ceiling. Lucy was concerned. He hadn't been downstairs or in his office when she had woken up and he was _always_ up before her. She and Happy had wandered around the mansion trying to find him until they had entered this room. Natsu's eyes were red and puffy, like he'd recently been crying. "Who does this room belong to?" The blonde's brown eyes fell on the picture to the side of the bed. The same girl in the picture in Natsu's office was in another picture here too. Instead of the two standing side by side, the girl was being spun around in the air by Natsu.

"Evelyn came here when she was nine. I didn't know who she was or where she came from. All she had was her name and the clothes on her back. I needed company so I took her in." He released a shaky breath and Natsu felt tears start to prick his eyes just thinking about how happy she had been when he had introduced himself. She had said that she had been alone for weeks and that she had to stop by his house and look at the flowers in the garden. When he offered her a place to live a grin almost as bright as his lit up her face and she eagerly accepted his offer. Evelyn had fit right in at Fairy Tail when he took her the next day. Everyone had welcomed her with open arms and she embraced the new family saying that she had never had a true one before. "She was kidnapped a couple of months ago. Nobody's seen her since."

"Do you have an idea of who took her?" Natsu sighed and looked away from his guest. How was he supposed to tell her that Jude Heartfilia, her father, was their prime suspect? From what their strategist, Mavis Vermillion, said was that he needed some sort of leverage or a bargaining chip. Or maybe it was just because he was a sadist; he had hurt his only living family member left after all.

"No," Natsu lied. "There are too many people who would love to have a member of Fairy Tail as their captive. "We've made a lot of enemies."

"Do you want breakfast or-"

"No, we'll go to Fairy Tail for breakfast. Let me get ready first. Hey Lucy?"

"Yeah?" she turned around as she stood in the doorway to leave.

"Thank you." He didn't offer any explanation of show any facial expression but she could tell from his voice that he genuinely appreciated her just being there.

"You're welcome," she smiled. Maybe this morning had been the beginning of them becoming better friends. Either way, it felt good to be appreciated for once. She hadn't been given that sense of validity since her mother had died. Natsu's words of gratitude had made her feel warm, a feeling that she wanted to stay forever.

Natsu on the other hand had been, and still was, beating himself up for letting her get taken in the first place. He _knew_ he should have been with her when she went exploring Crocus by herself. He remembered getting the news from Jellal's group. While everyone was horrified, Natsu had felt physically sick. He remembered going home to a house that seemed cold without Evelyn's laughter ringing through the halls. That was the first time he had cried in years. He had fallen into a deep depression after that, spending his time locked up in his house, crying, and occasionally taking razors to his wrists. It was only when Erza had broken into his house and dragged him back to Fairy Tail that he began to feel better, little by little. He still had slumps, like last night, but it had gotten better. Now all of their allies were looking for his adopted sister and that filled him with some hope. Besides, Evelyn was tough, he just had to have faith in her strength.

"Natsu?" Lucy called and he got shook himself out of his stupor.

"Yeah, I'll be down soon," he replied. He quickly threw on a nondescript gray sweatshirt and black sweatpants before joining the blonde downstairs. "Ok, I'm ready to go."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I just need to have a fight with the Ice Princess and then I'll feel better," he reassured Lucy, which wasn't a lie. Getting in a fight with Gray was probably the best thing for him right now. If he couldn't take out that frustration on himself, then he'd just take it out on somebody else. Besides, Gray probably had done something to warrant such an act.

As soon as the car was parked in the underground parking garage, Natsu stormed up to the lounge and immediately made a beeline for his long-time rival. Natsu greeted the black-haired teen with a strong punch to the face.

"What the fuck was that for charcoal breath?" Gray snapped as he tenderly pressed at the sensitive area on his cheek. That was going to leave a bruise.

"That was for two weeks ago when you stole my food!" Natsu yelled back. That event had happened, however.

"It was a damn accident!"

"Well I don't care!" With no other words the two got into a fistfight.

"Hey Mira," Lucy said as she took her place next to Lisanna who was watching the unfolding brawl with interest. "Hello Lisanna."

"Hello Lucy, how are you today?" Mira asked, her younger sister still somewhat absorbed in the fight.

"I'm ok…" she hesitated, wondering if she could tell Mirajane about what happened that morning. "I'm not sure Natsu is though," she dropped her voice to a whisper to avoid being overheard.

"Was it something to do with Evelyn?" Lisanna questioned, already knowing the response. Lucy nodded her head and the two Strauss sisters sighed.

"Can you tell me more about her? Natsu was pretty vague about it."

"Evie was great; she and Natsu had similar personalities. Both of them were energetic and always up for a good fight. Natsu had trained her well, she could even hold her own against Gray if she really wanted to," Lisanna described. "The day she went missing was terrible for all of us."

"We're still looking for her though," Mirajane added brightly. "Hibiki, you know the hacker from Pegasus, has tapped into every possible video camera in the whole country. He and Warren generally work together on this kind of thing."

"Isn't Minerva from Saber and Lyon working on it too?" Lisanna asked and her sister shook her head.

"Surprisingly, Rogue is working on it instead of Minerva, but that might just be because Evie was an adopted cousin. Lyon is working on it, but not as actively as the others."

"Mira, can I get a strawberry milkshake? I need something to cheer me up after this?" Lucy requested and Lisanna nodded her head in agreement.

"The usual for me too Sis," Lisanna ordered and her older sister grinned.

"Coming right up!" she chirped just as a loud voice thundered, "what is the meaning of this?"

"Oh shit," Lucy heard Natsu whisper under his breath since the room had gone quiet almost as soon as the redhead entered through the doors. "Nothing Erza, we were just playing around. You know, some lighthearted rough play?" Natsu and Gray were sweating when Natsu tried to talk them out of getting beaten up.

"Even sometimes the best of friends fight," Erza conceded with a small smile and walked away towards the bar. The two friends sighed in relief and slipped out of the room. "Some strawberry cake if you don't mind Mirajane," she sighed. "Jellal had troubling news."

"How is he?" Mira asked knowingly, a sly look in her bright blue eyes. Lucy leaned over to whisper in Lisanna's ear.

"Are the two of them dating?" The white-haired girl giggled in response and shook her head.

"Not that we know of, but everyone in Crime Sorciere thinks they are."

"What is it?" Mirajane asked as she brought out the cake that Erza was always craving.

"Something I want to discuss with Natsu first before anyone else hears about it," Erza answered mysteriously. "If you don't mind I'm going to go up and speak with him now."

"Good luck," the three girls remaining at the bar chorused.

Natsu was in his office scanning through reports that Fairy Tail members had sent in when he heard a knock on the door. "Come in. Oh, hi Erza. I didn't expect to see you here. Do you mind if I have a bite of your cake?" When he was answered with a death glare he backed off. "So what do you want?"

"Jellal told me he heard news about Evelyn," she stated bluntly and Natsu went into a state of shock. _Evelyn…she's still alive!_ He thought and a wide grin spread across his face.

"Do you know where?" he demanded.

"Jellal told me that Ultear heard that she was being kept somewhere in Hargeon. He narrowed it down to a couple of buildings, all of which are headquarters for gangs. Two of which owe their allegiance to the Heartfilias."

"That bastard," Natsu growled. He stood up with enough force to send his chair flying back into the wall.

"We can't do anything rash yet," Erza chastised. "You know that. Call the others up and we can come up with a plan from there."

Meanwhile down in the lounge a certain bluenette came rushing through the doors yelling "I'm back my darling Gray!"

"That's Juvia," Mirajane pointed out to Lucy and she remembered what Natsu had said the night before about how she was infatuated with Gray. "She's in love with Gray; it was a love at first sight thing."

"Oh hi Juvia," Gray greeted her as she sat next to him. "How was the job?"

"I already sent in the information to Natsu but Akane was only a branch, it wasn't the actual center. I think the real business is based in Alvarez but they have their operations here." Gray's eyebrows drew together.

"That's…interesting. What made you think that?"

"I was able to hack into their system for a short amount of time and most of the codes and orders came from a source that's not from anywhere in Fiore, let alone Ishgar." She paused for a minute her eyes scanning the room. "Who is she?" Juvia asked pointing to the newest member of Fairy Tail.

"That's Lucy Heartfilia. She ran into one of our operations so Natsu took her in. She joined a week ago." Juvia sniffed in response.

"Is she a potential love rival?" the girl asked, warily eyeing the blonde who was still chatting at the bar with Mira and Lisanna.

"What? No! She's not!" Gray exclaimed so everyone in the lounge stared at him before turning back to their conversations. Before they could continue, a ringing sound was coming from the wall. Gajeel, being the closest one to the screen tapped the accept button.

"I need Gajeel, Gray, Lucy, and Wendy to come up to the observation floor now," Natsu ordered. "It's an emergency; I have Sting and Rogue on the phone there too so for the love of Mavis _hurry up_." With that he hung up and the four selected people glanced at each other and shrugged.

When they reached the observation room, sure enough, Sting and Rogue's faces were floating in the air due to a projected hologram. "Finally, what took you guys so long?" Natsu sighed impatiently.

"It ain't our fault the elevators are slow as shit," Gajeel whined and Natsu resisted the urge to punch him in the face.

"If I find that you changed the music to fucking jazz again, I will murder you," Natsu threatened before clearing his throat. "Anyway, Erza came to tell me something important. Erza would you like to-" The redhead cut him off before he could finish his statement.

"Jellal told me that he heard a rumor about where Evelyn might be or where she had been." There were gasps from everybody in the room. Natsu had his hands balled up into fists so he could resist the urge to punch something, or someone. "Either way it's a lead. Ultear heard that she was being kept somewhere in Hargeon, all at gangs' headquarters. All of them seem to be under the control of a group under the Balam Alliance or a," she paused trying to find the right word to _not_ let Lucy know that her father was involved in this. "…benefactor of sorts. You all know who I'm referring to?" Everybody except for Lucy nodded their heads.

"Wait, who is this benefactor?" Lucy asked and five pairs of eyes landed on Natsu.

"I'll tell you later Lucy," Natsu promised her before turning back to the matter at hand. "Now, any suggestions on how we should do this? Sting? Rogue?"

"I wouldn't go rushing in immediately," Rogue advised. "Scout out the areas first and confirm that this is a legitimate lead. Then we'll need to figure out the systems and –"

"We don't have time for this!" Natsu yelled, slamming his hand down on the giant interactive map of Fiore. "She could be dying!"

"Natsu, all of us want to get her back, don't make it sound like the rest of us don't care," Sting snapped at his cousin. "But we need to follow Rogue's advice and plan this out, whether you want to or not." Natsu looked like he was about to retort but Erza gave him a look that said _argue back and you're dead_ so he instantly shut up.

"Alright," he relented crossing his arms over his chest and trying to hide the sneer on his face. "What brilliant plan do you geniuses have?"

 **So Juvia's been introduced in the story. I know some people, most people, write her in third person but I'm used to the dub I never really was exposed to that, except through the manga but...she doesn't show up that often. See you guys later!**


	8. Chapter 8

**I'm sorry it's been so long! I promise to work more on it, but I've been busy for the past two weeks or so. In regards to people who don't want me to put my OC in here, I apologize but I'm not changing the plot. I'm planning on updating my HP xover tonight too so expect two chapters for that.** **ALSO THIS IS A WARNING THAT THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS SELF-HARM WHICH MAY BE A POTENTIALLY TRIGGERING SUBJECT SO IF YOU WANT TO AVOID IT SKIP THE LAST PART OF THE CHAPTER.**

"So who's that benefactor you were talking about?" Lucy asked as they were driving home from downtown Magnolia. Natsu sighed and figured he had to tell her.

"Your father," he stated simply. "He provides Tartaros, the Oracion Seis, and Grimoire Heart with money, and he also plays a large part in the black market for drugs and weapons."

"No, that can't be, he would never-"

"Princess, I hate to break it to you, but Jude Heartfilia probably lied a lot in order to keep his work a secret. I wouldn't be surprised if the person he tried to engage you to was some gang lord."

"Why does he hate Fairy Tail then?"

"Simple," Natsu shrugged. "We have more power than he does, kind of. While we have the more advanced weaponry and technology he has hundreds of gangs and businesses under his control. If what we heard can be trusted he also has some sort of agreement with Zeref," he shuddered at the name and Lucy made a mental reminder to ask him about it later. "He tried to be friendly with us once or twice before but we already had all the allies we needed and besides," Natsu's nose wrinkled. "We don't work with drug and crime syndicates."

"So you think he took your sister?" Natsu nodded his head vigorously.

"I know he did. Jude Heartfilia has the best security money can buy. Even the gangs that are the head of the Balam Alliance have tech that we can hack from time to time so _something_ would have shown up."

"He wouldn't have done that though!" Lucy cried turning in her seat to face her companion. "If he really _does_ play a part in Fiore's underworld, he wouldn't do that!"

"Can you be sure? After all, you could consider what he did to you as abuse," Natsu contradicted with a small smirk growing on his face. "And you said so yourself, he didn't say _anything_ about his work to you. Doesn't that strike you as suspicious?"

"But Father _never_ talked about his work, even while my mother was alive," Lucy exclaimed. "He's always kept it to himself!"

"Yeah, how do you think he would look if he did say that he had built up an underworld empire based on drugs, weapons, and murder? That certainly would ruin his image, don't you agree?"

"I don't believe you!"

"Damn it Lucy, what do I need to show you?" Both teenagers were getting fed up with each other. Lucy was fighting back tears and Natsu was trying not to punch a dent in the interior of his car.

"Shut up! You're just saying this to get under my skin!" Natsu gave a warning growl.

"I can have Loke tell you," Natsu suggested and Lucy's eyes widened as she looked out the window. Loke, out of everybody in Fairy Tail, had no reason to lie to her. "Or I can show you recordings of deals and raids he participated in himself. Whichever one you like." Lucy just ignored him and Natsu looked out the windshield as if he was driving, even though the car was automatic. There were so many things he wanted to say. _I'm sorry for your shitty life. I'm sorry your mom died. I'm sorry your father is an asshole_. Maybe he would even want to apologize for bringing her to Fairy Tail in the first place.

"Do you regret coming to Fairy Tail?" Natsu broke the silence and Lucy remained quiet before slowly shaking her head.

"No. If it weren't for Fairy Tail, I'd be married to some egotistic asshole and be completely miserable. At least here, I have the illusion of freedom and people who genuinely care about me." So at least she didn't hate him for that. Which was reassuring, not by much, but enough to show that he didn't entirely screw up her life.

"Natsu, who's Zeref?" Lucy asked. "You mentioned him earlier but I've never heard of him before."

"Zeref is everyone's worst nightmare. He's the one pulling the strings of the whole Balam Alliance and, if the rumors can be true, he has some sort of alliance with your father. It's harder to track Zeref down because he controls his underworld kingdom here from the capital of Alvarez. He's virtually impossible to track down and we don't have any allies in any other country." Lucy was terrified. To know that her father could have potentially done business with an all-powerful gang lord, one who controlled three of the strongest gangs in Fiore, was scary.

"I kind of wish I hadn't asked now," Lucy muttered and Natsu gave a small smile.

"I can understand that. When I first heard about him I was pretty overwhelmed too, but I was pretty young when I first heard about him so it seemed scarier." He glanced over at her paler-than-normal face. "Don't look so scared. You have Fairy Tail. You're not alone. We'll protect you," he promised and Lucy gave him a small smile. "When we get back you should get some sleep, tomorrow's going to be a busy day." With a small wave, Lucy padded down the hallway to her bedroom.

The day's activities were whirling around in her head, distracting her so she couldn't sleep. On one hand hearing Natsu's abbreviated version of what happened to his adopted sister made her heart hurt. She was happy that there was a shot at getting her back, but at the same time, attacking some group that was powerful, especially if it was linked to her father was scary. Natsu's promise replayed itself in her head. _We'll protect you_ , he had said and she had to smile at the reassurance. Natsu was many things, but a liar wasn't one of them. And he did care about his friends, both in Fairy Tail and other gangs. Lucy smiled. She wasn't alone anymore, for the first time in years she had something that resembled a family.

"Lucy get up," she felt someone shaking her shoulder and she tried to push them away. "Lucy come on, Natsu's not in a good mood right now." Lucy's eyes blinked open and Happy was staring her right in the eyes. "Good now come on. Natsu's pretty angry."

"Great," she mumbled, sleep still holding her in its clutches. She hastily pulled on her clothes and put her hair up in a ponytail before going down to meet Natsu. "Good morning."

"Wonderful you're ready. There's been a change of plans. Somehow word about you being here got out and your father wants to talk to me otherwise he's threatened to attack us," Natsu summarized as he sipped his coffee. Lucy's face paled and she started trembling.

"Natsu," her voice broke from tears. "I can't go back, please!" He patted her head and smiled.

"Don't worry, he's not laying a finger on you. Anybody who abuses their family doesn't deserve to have them back. You're part of our family now, and nothing he do can change that. Now are we ready?" She gathered her courage and nodded.

"I want to go into the negotiations with you," she decided and Natsu raised his eyebrows once the car was on the road. "I need to learn how to stand up for myself and I need to let him know that I won't be a part of his game anymore."

"That's the spirit Lucy!" Happy cheered as he curled up on her lap. The ride into downtown Magnolia was quiet and Lucy was collecting her nerves. After they had been driving after a while, Natsu swerved into a parking lot and groaned. "What's wrong?"

"He wants to meet in neutral territory so we have to go into Clover now," Natsu hit the steering wheel in frustration. "Fuck him and his BS games!" Rather impatiently Natsu hit the coordinates of the meeting place into the GPS and waited for the car to change its direction.

"I'm sorry that we can't go looking for your sister today," Lucy apologized and Natsu looked at her oddly.

"What are you apologizing to me for? You haven't done anything," he replied and Lucy looked down at her hands. "Hey don't look so sad, don't worry, everything will be fine." Lucy nodded and tried her hardest to believe him. During the daytime, Clover was much more lively than the first time she had been. People were crowding around interactive maps, wandering into cafés, and buzzing from shop to shop like honeybees that were attracted to flowers.

"Hello, what can I do for you?" a secretary asked, slightly scared when she realized who was asking the question.

"What room is Jude Heartfilia in?" Natsu asked and the woman hurriedly scrolled through a list presented on her desk.

"Room 213, have a good day," she waved them away as quickly as she could after giving them a card.

"Is everyone that afraid of you?" Lucy asked Natsu and the pinkette sighed.

"Unfortunately most people are. It makes dealing with some things easier, but it can be annoying. We don't do anything wrong, we're just making sure that Fiore is safe and we don't get the respect we deserve for that." Much to Natsu's dismay, smooth jazz was playing in the elevator and Lucy and Happy were laughing at how he tried to cover his ears up when the elevator was in motion.

"Gajeel ruined jazz for me," he muttered. "When he was younger he thought he could be a singer and he decided that smooth jazz was his favorite genre. It was nightmarish." Lucy laughed at Natsu's not-so-fond memory of his cousin. When they reached the door Natsu swiped the card he had been given and the door slid open. "Jude Heartfilia, what a…pleasure to see you again," Natsu forced the greeting out with a bitter taste in his mouth.

"Same to you Mr. Dragneel. And it appears you brought Lucy with you," his eyes went a tiny bit colder. "How about we sit down and begin this discussion." Natsu sat but Lucy didn't. The fear on her face was plain as day and Natsu gently touched her wrist.

"Come on Lucy, it's ok. I won't let him hurt you," he whispered so only she could hear. Shakily, she nodded and sat down. When Natsu went to move his hand away, Lucy grabbed hold of it again and made it clear that he wasn't going to be moving anytime soon.

"So the rumors are true; you do have my daughter with you," Jude Heartfilia said as he took his place at the other side of the small table. He took a sip of water from a pitcher that was resting next to him. "Would you like some water?" Lucy reached out to grab a glass but Natsu stopped her.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you. I wouldn't be surprised if it's drugged or poisoned," Natsu spat, his dark eyes flashing with disgust and hatred. Lucy's father looked affronted but let it slide. "What the hell do you want Heartfilia?"

"Give Lucy back," was all he stated and Natsu's eyes narrowed. "I promised her fiancée that she would be back by this weekend."

"Yeah, that's not going to happen," Natsu replied haughtily. "She already joined Fairy Tail and I have no intention of letting her go back to an abusive father." At the last words the blonde man narrowed his eyes. At his facial expression, Natsu smirked. "I don't approve of family mistreating other family members so I can't just let her go back to you. Besides, Lucy doesn't want to leave, right Lucy?" Before she could even begin to formulate a response, her father's eyes grew dark.

"What do you mean she joined Fairy Tail?" he growled.

"Exactly what it sounds like," Natsu boasted. "Lucy, show him your right hand," Natsu commanded. "He can't do anything to hurt you since this is on neutral ground." Lucy extended her right hand, which was shaking and the blonde man sitting across from them slammed his hand on the table.

"Damn it Lucy why the hell would you do that?" he bellowed and whatever courage his daughter had vanished instantly. She recoiled and gently touched the cheek that had been bruised weeks before, the day she had ran away. Natsu positioned himself in front of her in a gesture of protection.

"If it makes you feel any better I didn't give her much of a choice. It was either join or get sent back to you wrapped in a bow," Natsu smirked, gaining immense satisfaction when Jude Heartfilia realized that his daughter had picked Fairy Tail over her own father.

"How?" he spat out and Natsu grinned.

"Yeah, good question. I mean I guess it can be pretty difficult to wrap up an alive person in wrapping paper and a bow. You'd have to figure out a way for them to breathe obviously and-."  
"That's not what I meant moron!" Jude Heartfilia was livid.

"It's not?" Natsu tilted his head, pretending to be oblivious.

"You're lucky we're on neutral ground otherwise I would kill you and destroy the rest of your pathetic gang!" Spit was flying from his mouth by now and Natsu dramatically flicked off a drop of water that wasn't really there.

"Everyone's biggest mistake is underestimating us," Natsu said in a low, dead serious tone. "If you value the lives of the people you work with and your resources I highly recommend you stay away and let go of the idea that Lucy belongs to you. Come on Lucy, it's time to go."

"This isn't over Dragneel! I'll kidnap her if I have to; I won't let you win!"

"Over my dead body," Natsu snapped.

"Hold on Natsu, I have something to say too," Lucy spoke up and Natsu was looking at her with something like pride in his expression. "I did run away because I hated living with you. It didn't feel like I was living at all. You were too busy caring about your drug and crime syndicate to ever think about me. Being with Natsu, being with Fairy Tail, is the first time I've felt happy since before Mama died. I'm not a bargaining chip, I never was! And now that I know what freedom feels like I'm not giving it up!" And with that the two left. When they were in the car and on track for going to Fairy Tail Natsu finally looked over at Lucy who had been silent.

"That was a pretty amazing speech there Lucy," Natsu congratulated. "Eh? Lucy?"

"Lucy are you ok?" Happy asked when Lucy had her head down and was quiet in response to Natsu's praise.

"Yeah, I'll be ok," she gave a small smile but Natsu narrowed his eyes. "Natsu, did you mean what you said back in the meeting room?"

"Lucy," he turned to face her, his dark eyes serious yet caring, something she hadn't seen in his eyes whenever he talked or interacted with her. "I swear I will not let you be treated like that ever again. I know I haven't been," he paused looking for the right word," courteous to you all the time but, it just takes a while for me to trust new people. Believe me when I say it's nothing personal." He was about to continue before he pressed his earpiece farther into his ear and swore violently.

"Natsu?" Lucy asked, tentatively laying a hand on his shoulder.

"You know how yesterday we said that we would send out some people to where we think Evelyn is being kept?" Lucy nodded already knowing where this was going. "Well she's not fucking there." Natsu's voice cracked slightly and he prayed that Lucy didn't notice, but she did.

"I'm truly sorry Natsu," she whispered and he nodded as he buried his face in his hands. Happy got up and gently nudged his friend's arm.

"Damn it!" he yelled and a lone tear rolled down his face. He punched in an address into the navigation system.

"Natsu? Are we going to HQ?" Lucy asked, using the term everyone used for Fairy Tail's skyscraper in downtown Magnolia. Her question was answered when the car rolled to a stop in the garage and Natsu stormed up to his room.

 **#########POTENTIAL TRIGGERING CONTENT AHEAD##########################**

"Lucy, can you come check on Natsu with me? I'm afraid for him…" Happy trailed off and Lucy followed the cat down the hall to Natsu's room. "Oh geez," the blue cat shook his head and the door opened when he floated up and put his paw on the scanner. Natsu's room was dark. The blinds were drawn across the windows and no lights were on. The only light source was coming from behind the bathroom door. "Natsu?" Happy asked. No reply. With a signal from Happy, Lucy pushed the door open and gasped at the sight in front of her. Natsu was sitting on the floor and was pulling razors over his wrists, almost like he was in a daze.

"Natsu!" Lucy cried and she flung herself at him and enveloped him in a hug. Form where she was she waved her hand at Happy who seemed to understand her request. He gathered up all the razors in the room in a bag and flew out, probably to go throw them into the garbage. "Natsu come on," Lucy started shaking his shoulders trying to bring him back.

"Lucy," he muttered.

The reaction to hearing bad news regarding his sister was automatic. Natsu was used to it by now. After she disappeared this was how he comforted himself. The pain helped clear his head and in a way it was comforting. Evelyn was suffering and was most likely in pain and Natsu was joining her in spirit. It was also just a form of punishment for himself. He was her older brother. Older brothers don't let their adoptive sisters get kidnapped. Natsu deserved the pain that he was inflicting upon himself because no one else would do it. His thoughts were distracted when there was a stinging at his wrists.

Natsu lifted his head to see Lucy in front of him cleaning the cuts with a damp cloth covered in soap. "Where do you keep the bandages?" she asked softly and he pointed to a drawer. After she finished acting as his nurse she pulled him into another hug while he cried onto her shoulder.

 **#######END OF TRIGGERING CONTENT###########**

 **I'll see you guys later**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hey guys! I'm back with another chapter! So this one has a fair amount of nalu development in it and same gajevy fluff as well, to try and take your mind off the bs in the manga. Anyways enjoy and I'll try to update my hp x ft xover soon!**

The following day, Lucy practically forced a very unenthusiastic Natsu to his car and put in the address to go to Fairy Tail's headquarters. "Natsu come on," she sighed. "I know you don't want to go here but you'll feel better once you're there."

"I'll take my anger out on Gray," he muttered and Lucy gave up. That was as good of a response as she'd be getting that day. "Actually, you go on ahead. I'm going to the training room."

"I'm going with you," Lucy stated and he growled. "I don't trust you to be by yourself right now, especially in a room full of weapons." Natsu was taken aback by her statement. The first time anyone had discovered what he had been doing behind locked doors, all they did was drag him back to the skyscraper. No one had actually bothered to follow-up. Or at least, not thoroughly. They asked him how he was doing but lying was second nature so he didn't actually have to tell them the truth. They didn't bother to spend a couple of nights with him to make sure he wasn't doing anything stupid. But Lucy, who he had technically kidnapped, did. The fierce look in her brown eyes let him know that she wasn't going to let him be by himself anytime soon.

"Sure," he mumbled. "Follow me." Lucy followed him to the elevators that opened up to a large room. The back wall was glass and it overlooked the canal. Light glinted off of the water as the boats, which were still manually operated, created waves, disrupting the stillness of the water. A variety of weapons lined the walls. Almost half of the wall on the right was taken up by different kinds of rifles and guns. The rest of the wall was inside a small, glass-enclosed space complete with different kinds of targets for shooting practice. A punching bag was in the left corner of the room alongside more weapons, including knives, and to Lucy's surprise, bows and arrows. Along the glass wall were weights and benches.

"This is incredible," she breathed. "I'm surprised more people aren't up here."

"Not everyone in Fairy Tail is fit for fighting," Natsu told her in a dull voice. "They prefer to do technology, research, communications, security, et cetera. Everyone else only really comes up here to test out new weapons." He went and grabbed a stuffed dummy from a bin tucked neatly under one of the weapon racks. Natsu grabbed a knife from one of the racks and immediately began mutilating the fabric. _This must be a way for him to let out his anger_ , Lucy thought to herself. It would make sense.

"Won't you have to clean this up?" Lucy asked, not really wanting to interrupt Natsu.

"No, the fabric can repair itself," he said shortly before turning his attention back on the dummy now lying ripped in half on the black ground. "If you're bored you can go practice using guns and rifles if you want. Feel free to use anything you want to." Lucy nodded at the invitation and made her way over to the racks of guns. With delight, she found the one she had used from her first time in Clover. Upon entering the glass-protected space, she hung a target on the wall and began practicing. Over time she got better before deciding that she had practiced enough.

"Natsu, I'm going down for food," she called and when he seemed completely uninterested in the fact that food was mentioned she frowned. "Natsu come on. I know you want to stay up here, but you can't. You'll feel better downstairs with everyone." He grunted and threw the knife he was using at the wall where it shook slightly before stilling.

"Let's go," he grumbled and unenthusiastically started dragging his feet to the elevator.

"Maybe Mira can make you something spicy as comfort food," Lucy suggested and Natsu didn't reply. Even the smooth jazz elevator music didn't get a reaction out of him. "Hi guys!" Lucy called as she made her way over to the bar, dragging a very reluctant pinkette behind her. "Mira, do you think you could whip up some sort of spicy comfort food for him?" Mirajane took one look at the dejected teenager behind Lucy and nodded.

"I know just what to make," she chirped and went away into the kitchen to go make the food.

"Hey Natsu are you ok?" Lisanna touched his arm, with concern evident in her bright blue eyes. Natsu didn't reply. "Natsu?" she waved her hand in front of his face to try and make him say _something_.

"He's been like this all day," Lucy told her softly. "I can't get him to say anything." Natsu abruptly stood up and stalked over to where Gray and Gajeel were talking to each other. "No, Natsu," Lucy sighed and she knew what was going to happen. Natsu delivered a very strong punch to Gray's head and he instantly jumped up.

"What's your deal?" he yelled. The two launched into a fierce fight. When they stopped to catch their breath both teenagers were covered in bruises. Sometime during their fight Mira stepped out of the kitchen with a plate of chicken drenched in Tabasco sauce and jalapeños.

"Natsu there's food for you," Mira called before the two friends started beating each other up again. He cast his dark eyes over to the bar and silently walked over and dug into his food.

"Thank Mavis, he hasn't eaten anything all day," Lucy murmured.

"That was good, thanks Mira," Natsu said before getting up. "Lucy, come on. We're going back home." Lucy opened her mouth to say something before shutting it again.

"Ok, let's go," she consented softly.

In the car ride home both people were silent. Happy was dozing contentedly in the back seat. "Thank you Lucy," Natsu said quietly. "For everything today." Natsu genuinely meant it too. Nobody, at least not since his father disappeared, had ever been so concerned for him. Everybody from Fairy Tail the first couple weeks after Evelyn went missing had sympathized with him but they never thought to ask questions about the scars on, about where they had come from. When they got out of the car Natsu did something Lucy wasn't expecting. He pulled her into a hug and buried his nose in her hair. "Thank you so much," he whispered. Lucy didn't know what else to do besides return the embrace.

"You're welcome," she replied softly. Lucy wasn't used to this feeling, this feeling of being appreciated. "I'm glad I can help." He pulled back slightly and frowned.

"Why are you crying?" he asked, trying not to panic. "Oh shit, I'm sorry!"

"It's ok Natsu, really," she wiped her eyes and looked up at him. "I think it's a combination of feeling sorry for you but also happy at feeling appreciated." Lucy gave him a small smile.

"If that bastard," Lucy assumed it was her father he was referring to, "makes you cry again, I'm killing him." Like so many other things he said, Lucy didn't know if he was being serious or not.

When she woke up the next morning, Lucy was unnaturally warm. She shook her head in an attempt to clear it from sleep. She glanced over and shrieked. Lying next to her, snoring softly, was Natsu. "What the hell dude?"

"Oh good morning," he yawned. "How are you?"

"The better question is what are you doing in here?" she yelled.

"Well it is my house," he stated. "And besides, I feel safer with you." Lucy blushed lightly at the words that he seemed to speak so easily. "Not physically, Princess. I think you need me more in that regard," he snickered before sobering up. "No, I mean emotionally. Just," he took a deep breath looking almost nervous. "Don't leave. Please." Lucy felt a large wave of empathy wash over her. She was feeling the exact same way. After all this had been the first time in nine or ten years where she genuinely felt happy, where she could be herself, where she had people who cared for her, and not just because she was a bargaining chip.

"Just as long as you don't leave me."

"Hey guys!" Natsu yelled energetically as he walked out of the elevator onto the lounge and kitchen floor. The two made their way to the bar and sat down at two of the bar stools.

"Well you look happy today, Mira chirped, grabbing a pot of coffee and slid two mugs in front of the newly arrived members.

"Yeah, last night was good," Mirajane's eyes glinted with something Lucy didn't recognize. She raised an eyebrow at Natsu's words. Natsu seemed unaware of the _other_ interpretation his words had. Lucy blushed.

"N-nothing happened," she stuttered. Her companion was too busy looking at one of the smart walls to back her up on it.

"But Lucy, you and Natsu slept in the same bed," Happy reminded smugly.

"Happy stop saying weird stuff," Natsu said absentmindedly.

"But he loves Lucy," the Exceed giggled as he drew out the 'o' in 'love'. Lucy's face was now bright red and stuttering out objections to Happy's accusations. "Charle!" thankfully, he flew off to go greet Wendy's Exceed.

"So, is that true?" Levy questioned as she sat down next to Lucy.

"No of course not!" Lucy shrieked. "You can't believe anything that that cat says. Natsu back me up!" She turned around only to find that he had left. "Where did he go?"

"He said something about going up to the surveillance room," Gray called from where he was sitting with Juvia and Gajeel. "You can go up and find him but it looked like he wanted to be alone." Lucy bit her lip. She understood that he needed to be by himself, but the worry of him harming himself overrode that understanding.

"What floor is that on again?"

"The eleventh," almost everyone in the room called. She nodded and rode up to the floor. Lucy gave a small smile when she heard the smooth jazz playing over the sound system. She tried to imagine Gajeel wearing sunglasses while playing a guitar, maybe wearing a suit. The resulting image made her laugh. When the elevator door slid open she let the scanner read her eyes before letting the door in front of her open.

"Natsu?" she called softly, not wanting to disturb him. "Are you in here?"

"Come here Lucy," he said from deeper in the room. Once she followed his voice, Lucy found Natsu holding a syringe.

"What the fuck is that?" she yelled and backed away.

"Relax Lucy, it's just a tracker. Before you say anything let me explain," when Lucy made no sign of running Natsu launched into an explanation. "This is the same thing that we use for criminals, for the same purpose. Ever since Evie went missing, everybody has one and it's super important for you because now that everyone knows you're here and who you're with, people will come for you. We need to make sure that we can find you if you're kidnapped." Lucy bit her lip. "Please, Lucy. For my peace of mind?" With a sigh she tilted her neck and closed her eyes. "This might hurt." Lucy hissed when she felt the needle prick her neck. "Like Wendy said, there aren't any side effects and you won't know that it's there."

"How do these work?"

"It was something that Levy and Wendy developed. Each chip has an activation code that you can type into a database and it gives the coordinates." Lucy nodded, it seemed like a simple technique, yet it was somehow elaborate and sophisticated.

"Is that all you were doing up here?" Lucy ventured and Natsu shook his head.

"I was about to send out a message to our allies if anyone had heard anything about Evelyn," he admitted as he tapped a message on a keyboard on the interactive map. "Now that I know she's alive, I'm not going to stop looking for her. Ever."

"Just don't overwork yourself on this Natsu," Lucy advised him.

"What is that supposed to mean?" he asked with an arched eyebrow.

"Take care of yourself, if not for yourself then do it for Evelyn, or me, or Fairy Tail. We all want you to be happy." Natsu gave a small smile and nodded.

"I think I can do that. Do you want to go back down?" Lucy smiled and nodded. When they were in the elevator, Natsu groaned and sank down to the floor.

"Are you ok?" Lucy asked alarmed.

"Shit, I forgot to retake my motion sickness medicine. And the smooth jazz garbage isn't helping."

"Was Gajeel that terrible?" Lucy giggled at her friend's misery. Natsu just glared at her.

"I'm pretty sure only Levy likes his garbage music." He managed to drag himself up to a sitting position along the elevator wall.

"Better make sure he doesn't catch you saying that," Lucy warned with a smile on her face. "I'm pretty sure he'll kill you."

"Metal head can try. Even on his best days he can't beat me," the pinkette boasted and Lucy nodded.

"Of course, I apologize." In return, Natsu just narrowed his eyes at her. When the elevator rolled to a stop Natsu crawled out of the elevator like it was on fire. He just stayed still on the ground praising the gods that he was back on a floor that didn't move.

"Dumbass, did you forget to take your motion sickness medicine," Gray taunted and that got Natsu on his feet in no time.

"What did you call me Freezer Burn?" he yelled back. Knowing that a fight was impending, Lucy sat back down next to Levy.

"So Levy, Natsu told me that Gajeel is into jazz music," Lucy started a conversation and the other girls at the bar laughed.

"If you can even consider him a musician," Cana snickered as she looked up from her bottle of some form of alcohol. "He's tone deaf. Always was and always will be."

"He's just…enthusiastic," Levy defended and Cana laughed. "And it's not like he ever took lessons. His music seems ok to me."

"Of course it would," Mirajane leaned over and rested her elbows on the counter. "I think all of us know you happen to have a crush on a certain someone who just so happens to like jazz music." Levy's face turned bright red and almost choked on the tea she was drinking.

"That's not true!" she spluttered in protest. "We've just been doing more missions together because Team Shadowgear needs his help. That's it I swear!" Nobody seemed to buy it because there were several 'ok whatever you say,' from the Strauss sisters and Cana.

"Speaking of jazz," Lisanna said and gestured over to the opposite wall. Gajeel was sitting down on a chair and, just like Lucy imagined, wearing sunglasses and a fedora.

"Oh for fuck's sake not this shit again!" Natsu groaned and he got hit in the face with Gajeel's hat.

"Who wants to hear my new song?" the alleged jazz musician asked into a microphone. There were a chorus of boos but he didn't seem deterred. He start strumming his guitar and singing and Lucy cringed. Cana hadn't been lying when she said that he was tone deaf.

"I need more booze for this," the alcoholic muttered and walked behind the bar to grab a bottle of what looked like sake. Natsu had his hands over his ears and several others followed suit. Most of his audience was trying to ignore him but Levy was clapping enthusiastically when his song was over.

"That's all for today," Gajeel announced as he stood up.

"Thank Mavis," Gray sighed as he dragged himself over to the bar.

"Your clothes Gray," Cana raised an eyebrow and Gray looked down to see his shirt missing.

"Damn it not again!"

"Ha stripper king," Natsu smirked and Gray looked ready to punch him in the face.

"Fight me pyro!"

"Not until you put some clothes on," Natsu retorted with good humor. "Go up to the clothes room, there's more than enough shit there."

"The clothes room?" Lucy questioned when the others chuckled at his response.

"Makarov had the foresight to create a room purely for clothes, disguises, and makeup. Most of the time though, Gray just uses it to replace clothes that he lost," Lisanna explained. "It's a great idea, especially when we have visitors."

"That was humiliating," Erza had now walked over to join their group. "Can I have some strawberry cake while I'm here Mirajane?"

"Of course," she answered and disappeared into the kitchen.

"We had an official from, I believe it was Twilight Ogre, and everything was going fine until Gray arrived with nothing but his underwear on." Natsu burst out laughing.

"I remember that! It was hilarious to watch Gramps beat him up afterwards!"

"Shut up Natsu! It was a one time thing alright?" Gray yelled, now wearing a shirt.

"Yeah right, it only happened about three other times," Cana reminded him and Gray growled in frustration.

"Fuck all of you," he ground out before stalking away.

"Well that went well," Mira commented when she arrived back with strawberry cake. She was about to say something else but the smart wall started ringing, saying that someone wanted a video chat. Natsu nodded and someone swiped the accept button and a black video filled the screen.

"Hello Fairy Tail." It was Jellal. Lucy was still getting accustomed to the idea that he wasn't the insane, power-hungry maniac that the news and high society made him out to be. At least, he wasn't anymore. "Natsu, Erik heard that there was something _bad_ happening in Era and since we can't go there, we were hoping you could."

"We'll do it, of course we will," Natsu accepted immediately. "Just send me the information and we'll go there tomorrow."

"Excellent," he nodded and there were laughs and someone asking if Jellal had seen his _girlfriend_ which, Lucy assumed, meant Erza.

"Karen that's enough," he ordered but there were still giggles and a man's voice said that Jellal was too scared to actually ask her out. Both Jellal and Erza turned red at that statement. Whether it was from embarrassment or anger, Lucy couldn't tell. "Well that's that. I'll be going now. Goodbye," and the screen went black.

"Well then. Lucy, Erza, Gray, Wendy," he looked at each of them. "We'll leave tomorrow so get here at eight am sharp. Understood?"

"But you don't know what or who's going to be there," Levy frowned. "Shouldn't you take more people?"

"We'll call for backup if we need it," Natsu reassured her. "Don't worry we'll take as many weapons and as much technology as we can. On another note, I do want you, Gajeel, and Juvia coming up with us to go over the information that Jellal sent us."

"You're nervous?" Gajeel asked Levy as they walked to the elevators.

"Something doesn't seem right," she murmured. "I have a bad feeling about this."


	10. Chapter 10

**Hey guys! I'm back, I had a bit of writer's block so this is just kind of a filler chapter. I have a vague idea of what I want to do with the next chapters but we shall see. Anyway enjoy and I'll see you later!**

The next day Natsu, Lucy, Happy, Charle, Wendy, Gray, and Erza were all piled in one of Fairy Tail's cars because Natsu didn't want to risk ruining his. Music was blaring from the sound system as green fields flew past them outside. Not that you could actually see that the grass was green, the windows were too dark.

"Should we plan out what we're going to do when we get to Era?" Lucy questioned to the group of teens who were doing anything but looking serious. Gray and Natsu were playing some sort of game and were screaming and yelling at each other every couple of minutes. Erza was ignoring them eating strawberry cake. Happy was talking to Charle while Wendy was talking with Lucy.

"Nah, when we get there we'll just do an observation of the city," Natsu answered, looking up from the tablet he and Gray were leaning over.

"We're going to the place where we're staying and from there I can tap into all of the security cameras and shit all over the city. No big deal," Gray shrugged.

"Where are we staying Gray?" Wendy asked before his attention was back to whatever game he was playing with Natsu.

"Gramps has some place near the city that he told me we can use," Gray answered. "I've never been there before so I don't where it is."

"I've been there before," Erza threw in. "It's on the ocean so maybe a twenty minute drive into the city. It's beautiful there."

"Haha! I beat you Ice Cube!" Natsu cackled and Gray hit the car's wall.

"Fuck you Pyro! I was distracted so that shouldn't count!"

"Then you shouldn't have been distracted!" Natsu yelled back. Erza had a tick mark on her forehead from frustration.

"If you don't stop I'm kicking you both out of the car and you can walk the rest of the way."

"Sorry ma'am," they chorused. When she stopped looking at them the two frenemies glared at each other. While the car continued driving, Lucy had her face pressed up to the glass, trying to take in as much as possible through the tinted glass.

"So Lucy, you've never been to Era before?" Wendy asked as she looked up from her tablet.

"I might have been to meet with suitors," the distaste in her voice was obvious. "But if I was, there wasn't really an opportunity to explore and get to see everything." She froze where she was and slowly seemed to melt into the seat.

"Lucy?" Gray questioned as he looked up at his terrified friend.

"Damn it," she swore softly. "The person my father wanted me to marry lives in Era. I completely forgot."

"It's ok Lucy," Natsu drawled as he rested his head on his seat. "What are the odds of meeting him right?"

"Right," she agreed nervously. Natsu was right, Era had over a million people. The odds of meeting the person she was supposed to marry were slim to none. Right?

"Holy shit!" Natsu exclaimed as Makarov's mansion in Era came into view. Natsu's reaction was appropriate in Lucy's opinion. Like Natsu's house, the building was geometric and white and surrounded with green bushes and trees. Four steps lead up to a clear glass gate with a patio-like area behind it.

"If you think this is impressive, you still need to see his mountain retreat and the beach house on Tenrou Island," Erza said dryly. "Make yourselves at home. Gray, can you start hacking into the city interface?" Gray nodded as he walked up the stone steps to the gate. When he touched it, he yelped.

"It's fucking electrified!" Lucy bit her lip to fight back laughter.

"This house is one of Fairy Tail's outposts, did you really think it would be defenseless?" the blonde questioned with an arched eyebrow. Gray glared at her while Natsu laughed and Wendy giggled.

"It's tied into the security system we have at headquarters so the eyescanner should work for all of you." Gray rolled his eye but bent down to let the scanner flash a green light in his eye. Silently, the gates swung open and closed just as quickly.

"Really?" Natsu sighed as he copied Gray's actions. The gate would only allow one person to pass through at a time. "This is going to be inconvenient."

"Inconvenient or not it is necessary for keeping this building and whoever is in it safe," Erza chastised. "I wouldn't whine about it if I were you." Natsu looked like he was about to retort but seemed to think better of it because he let it slide.

"This is protected too?" Gray asked as his hand jerked away from the door handle, most likely from being shocked again.

"If it shocked you, it obviously is Gray," Wendy pointed out with a teasing smile on her face. The black-haired teenager's eye twitched and he turned to glare at her but Natsu gave him a look that seemed to say 'if you talk back to her you die.' Much to the boys' chagrin, Happy and Charle just flew over the gate.

"Don't you wish you could fly now?" Happy teased and Natsu scowled in reply.

"Shut up Happy," he grumbled. "Nobody likes a showoff." When they stepped inside the house everyone gasped. White rugs covered areas of the dark brown floor with dark chairs with white cushions on top. The tables were all dark but small green plants in white containers stood out. A large pyramid skylight was centered over the room casting sunlight over everything. Sunlight was also streaming in through the retractable glass door that led out to a deck with more chairs and potted plants. Without a shadow of doubt, Lucy knew that there was probably a pool built in as well.

"Everyone go pick out rooms," Erza ordered. "And Gray, hack into the city system please? I don't want to ask again." Gray opened his mouth to argue, to say that Erza hadn't given him time to hack into the system because he was busy being electrocuted by a gate. Lucy wandered around downstairs until she walked into a room she fell in love with. It was simple, there wasn't anything unique about it, but that just made her love it more. Seeing something so minimal was refreshing from the extravagance she had grown up with and the complicated room she had grown used to having at Natsu's mansion. A bed was centered along the right wall, next to a sliding glass door that led out to the deck. The blankets were white, but there was a salmon pink blanket folded at the foot of the bed. There was a small bookshelf in what Lucy decided would be her reading nook and a laptop resting on a glass desk.

"Sweet Lucy, I have the room next to yours!" Natsu cheered as he saw her step onto the deck. "This house is amazing isn't it?" he asked as he looked at the trees and grass stretching beyond the backyard.

"It is beautiful," Lucy agreed. "What does your room look like?" Natsu grabbed her hand and guided him toward his room, even though she didn't need the guidance. His room was similar to hers. They had the same white bedspread except a charcoal gray blanket was thrown over his instead of pink. Two black and glass chairs were facing the door that lead outside, with a small table between them.

"What's up Lucy?" Natsu questioned as Lucy sat down on the bed and gave a sad smile.

"I can't help but feel jealous," she admitted, not making eye contact. "You all grew up surrounded by amazing people and living in places like this," she gestured to the room around her. "While I was stuck inside a place far more sophisticated but seemed like a jail. I would have preferred this life so much more."

"But that means that you can appreciate it more than you would have before," Natsu reminded. "And besides, aren't you glad it worked out this way? You might never have even run into us and you wouldn't be with Fairy Tail right now."

"Maybe so, yeah," she agreed. "I can't help but worry that that one suitor will find me here." Natsu sighed and placed a hand on her head, like he had when they were talking with her father.

"I won't let them take you back to your old life. You have a new family; you don't _belong_ to that world anymore. This one's more dangerous but doesn't that make it fun?" He gave her a blinding grin and she couldn't help but return the expression. He was right, like he almost always was. It was a reminder that she really did come to love Fairy Tail; while she had only known them for a couple of weeks, they felt more like family than her father ever had. "C'mon, let's go see if there's food here, I'm hungry as hell."

When they arrived in the kitchen, Gray already seemed to have made it his headquarters. A hologram was hovering over the small glass table near the sliding door. On the display, seemed to be hundreds of camera feeds from all over the city and he had tapped into every computer system to scan for hacking. "I've set it up so if there's any suspicious activity it'll sound an alarm," Gray was telling Erza who was breathing down his neck as he worked.

"And what if it scares us to death and gives us a heart attack?" Natsu snipped from his location by the refrigerator as he looked through it for something to eat.

"We have Wendy dumbass," Gray sneered back. "She can heal us. Right, Wendy?"

"What kind of person answers confidently and then has to get their answer confirmed?" the pinkette taunted. "Clearly you're less smart than I am. I don't have that kind of doubt." Gray seemed to bristle at the comment and stood up to face his rival/best friend.

"Listen, if you have a problem with me then fucking say it to my face," Gray growled and Erza cleared her throat loudly to alert the others of her presence, which they seemed to have forgotten.

"We weren't fighting Erza, it was just some banter," Natsu scrambled for excuses and thankfully, came up with them.

"All in good fun right buddy?" Gray asked as he and Natsu sweatdropped.

"O-of course good buddy," Natsu replied with a fake smile.

"Good." Seemingly satisfied with their resolved conflict, she wandered away, probably to go find her room that was somewhere in the mansion.

"Gods, what a nightmare," Natsu moaned as he dropped his face on the island countertop.

'Tell me about it," Gray muttered as he continued to monitor all of the information going through the hologram.

"Why do you use holograms so much? Wouldn't it be easier to have a tablet?" Lucy asked. It was something that had never occurred to her before. She rarely saw any of them use tablets for professional work; everyone seemed to have a hologram projector that was the size of a compact mirror.

"First of all it looks cooler," Natsu answered with a small smile. "Second of all, we don't deal with glitches as often. And third of all because it's easier to see everything at once, so we don't need to switch apps."

"It was awful," Gray commented, his eyes never leaving the hologram feed. "So many apps crashed and lost data, really meaningful data. We only recovered it because Freed and Hibiki are master hackers so they could find a way to retrieve it."

"I'm hungry," Wendy whined as she wandered into the kitchen. "Natsu what do we have?"

"Plenty of stuff to make things out of, I just can't cook. I always set everything on fire," he mumbled, dejected and hopeless at the prospect of not eating food.

"I can make something for you if you want," Lucy offered and Natsu's jaw dropped. "What? I wanted to learn how to cook so our chef taught me."

"Thank you goddess Lucy!" Happy cried as he flew into her arms.

"What are you going to make?" Charle asked as she walked into the kitchen.

"That depends, what do we have?" Lucy asked as she wandered to the wall with cabinets and drawers. "Wendy can you check the freezer to see if there's any chicken or steak?"

"Um, Lucy? I don't see anything here," Wendy told her as she pulled her head out of the freezing air. "Maybe we should just go out for dinner?"

"That sounds great!" Natsu yelled. "Lets go! There's an 8 Island branch here so we can eat there. Then since this is Lucy's first time here, we can go look around!"

"I have to stay here though," Gray protested, his eyes leaving the feed for the first time that afternoon.

"Don't you have a phone?" Wendy asked and the black-haired teen groaned.

"It's probably fine if we leave him here," Natsu observed loudly. "We'd just have to bail his ass out of jail for walking around with no clothes on." Wendy and Lucy laughed while Erza gave him a threatening glare.

"Fuck you Dragneel," Gray growled and Natsu shrugged.

"Your loss, we'll tell you all about the amazing food we had and how beautiful Era is at night while you stay here locked up in the house," the pinkette shrugged as the four walked out the door.

"Damn it," Gray muttered as he shut down the hologram and followed them out the door. "Fuck you Dragneel," he repeated as they all got in the car.

"Gray, we will go out and we will have a good time," Erza commanded and Gray gulped and nodded. "We all have weapons correct?" Lucy paled at the question. While she understood the logic, the idea of it made her uneasy.

"Lucy, you'll be with me so you won't need one," Natsu said as he looked out the window. The closer they got to the city, the more cluttered the streets seemed to become. Buildings were crowded together and more people were walking on the sidewalks, talking into phones with holograms above the screen or chatting loudly with friends.

"You'd think since the assembly for the government is here it would be more organized," Erza observed, almost sounding annoyed. "I've never liked Era."

"Well yeah, didn't you once get in trouble for property damage, especially since it was for a smaller local government building?" Wendy asked and Erza sighed.

"I think it was only because of Jellal that I got off so easily," Erza mused. "He was still infiltrating the government. Look how well that turned out."

"Wait, why was he infiltrating the government?" Lucy pressed, not entirely sure she wanted to know the answer. Erza sighed once again.

"He heard a rumor that someone was making deals to turn a blind eye to the crime and drug rings so he went to infiltrate with Ultear. Both of them got sent to prison but Meredy, Erick, and Sorano broke them out. You probably heard about it, although from a different point of view." That was true. Lucy had heard about how the infiltration was to get information and throw all of Fiore into chaos. But now, she realized, it just depended on which side you were on. Of course it would mean chaos for her father and his allies, but it meant victory for Fairy Tail and their allied gangs. She supposed that now she was on Fairy Tail's side. Natsu made that clear when they had met with her father.

"Lucy where does this would-be suitor live?" Gray asked, his eyes focused on the tablet in his hands.

"I think some sort of city mansion or penthouse," Lucy wracked her brain trying to remember what she knew but she was drawing a blank. "His name was, Everlue, I think?" Automatically everyone tensed.

"Bastard," Natsu growled and no one countered him. "That asshole tricked us. We did a favor for him but he didn't pay us back. Hell he gave all of the information he knew to your father!"

"I'm glad you don't have to marry him," Charle shuddered at the thought. "What a creep."

"And he didn't like fish," Happy added. "What kind of person doesn't like fish?"

"Evie never liked them," Natsu reminisced. "She hated them."

"Well she's weird like Lucy, so it doesn't count right?"

"How am _I_ weird cat?" Lucy yelled. "I'm not blue and I'm not a talking cat!"

"Natsu, Lucy's going to eat me," Happy wailed and flew into Natsu's lap. The pinkette gave Lucy an apologetic but she just glared, those brown eyes becoming cold and threatening. She clearly had been spending too much time with Erza. The car slowly rolled to a stop, in the middle of the street, and Natsu shouted in frustration.

"This piece of garbage!" he ranted. "The least it could have done was pull over to the side of the road to park but _no_ that would've been too easy. I'm going to kill Makarov for giving us these shitty cars who can't do anything right. I want a fucking refund because this was the biggest waste of money-" he only shut up when Erza whacked his skull.

"Natsu that's enough," she ordered sternly. "You should be grateful that Makarov has been generous enough to buy us the best technology available." Natsu muttered something that sounded suspiciously like 'best technology my ass' but if Erza heard him, she ignored it.

"Are we all going to get dinner together? Because Happy and I already know where we want to go," Natsu asked.

"Well I don't want to go with you," Gray announced. "I'm going to a sushi restaurant do you want to come with me Wendy?"

"Um, sure," Natsu's little cousin replied. "If that's okay with you?" she directed the question to her cousin who sighed.

"Go for it," Natsu muttered. "Lucy and I can have fun by ourselves."

"That's good," Erza nodded. "I was planning on visiting Mermaid Heel and catching up with Millianna and Kagura. It's been a while since I've seen them."

"Take care of my sister Ice Prick," Natsu warned. "Or there will be hell to pay."

"Cool it moron, like I'm going to let anything happen to her," Gray snapped. "Anyway we're here. All of us have our network communicators right?" Everyone nodded. Lucy didn't though, she needed to keep nagging Natsu if she ever wanted to get one.

"Sweet, let's go then!" Natsu exclaimed. He grabbed Lucy's hand and dragged her out of the car. "You're going to love Era." The sun was still out when they got out of the car and Natsu gave Lucy a moment to take in where they were. A domed building was in the distance, the gold metal of the dome was glinting in the late afternoon sun. Similar to the more historic section of Magnolia, the streets were cobblestones that were now flat after being worn down century after century. People were walking on the sidewalks yammering into their phones. Sirens started coming down the street and Lucy jumped at the noise.

"Era police doing what they do best," Gray noted as he stood next to them to watch the police car race past. The sarcasm in his voice was obvious. "You'd think the city where they hold assemblies for the government would be more orderly. Mermaid Heel is one of the only reasons why this city isn't overrun with criminals."

"Agreed," Erza stated. "I'll go look for Kagrua, if there's a police chase she won't be far behind."

"Well we should get out of here before cops show up," Natsu said. "They wouldn't hesitate to try and throw us into jail for bullshit charges."

"Charges like what?" Lucy asked as they walked on the sidewalks, weaving through crowds of people.

"Property damage, incapacitating police officers, stuff like that," Natsu casually listed. "They all deserved it anyway."

"Fish!" Happy broke in and he zoomed to a restaurant. "C'mon Natsu let's eat here!" The restaurant was small and the word 'ember' was displayed above the door in bright red.

"Oh, I've heard this place is good," Natsu looked like a child on Christmas. "They cook a lot of their food with fire so it's all smoked. Sting told me about it."

"Do you think you could get us one of those private rooms this time Natsu?" Happy asked and Natsu tilted his head as the three walked through the door.

"Table for three?" a waitress asked and then she realized who was standing in front of her. "Natsu D-Dragneel, what a surprise to see you." She sounded nervous. "It's an honor to have you here."

"Do you think you could get us a private room?" he requested, ignoring the woman's floundering.

"Of course. Are the two of you on a date?"

"What?" Lucy shrieked, while Natsu smirked.

"Yeah, it's her first time in Era and I've heard that this restaurant is amazing," Natsu winked at Lucy and she tried not to strangle him in the middle of the restaurant.

"Follow me then." She gestured for the three to follow her. Happy was lazily flying next to Natsu's head, wisely holding his tongue so as not to freak the poor woman out. The waitress lead them to a door that opened into a small room with a table for two and a large window looking out to a garden with a fountain. "The menus are on the screens in the table. Please enjoy your meal." With a small bow of her head she left the room.

"I'm your date?" Lucy asked with a raised eyebrow. Natsu just blushed.

"It was convenient," he shrugged. "Besides, do you know how many girls would kill you to be in your place?" He gave her a smile and Lucy shook her head.

"I think girls are delusional," Lucy rolled her eyes. "Anyone who'd want to go out with you is stupid."

"Suit yourself Princess. Now are you going to order?"


	11. Chapter 11

**Hey guys! So today was super stressful bc fuck the SAT but here's a new chapter. Also for my HP x FT xover I kind of want to focus on this one more and idk what even to do w/ my ML FT AU but yeah. Anyways this one has more nalu development. I really like the idea that Natsu just kind of hides whatever emotions he has behind a cheerful, happy thing and that Lucy's really one of the only people who kind of understands him. So yeah, enjoy!**

When Natsu and Lucy had finished their dinner the two strolled out into the streets, temporarily blinded by the setting sun. Lucy shielded her eyes and turned to Natsu. "What is there to see here?"

"Come with me, I know a place," was all her companion said before grabbing her hand and weaving through the throngs of people on the sidewalk. "It's a bit out of the way, but I think you'll like it." No matter what she tried, Natsu refused to tell her more about their mysterious location. "Nope, I'm not saying a word until we get there," he said with a final tone in his voice that made Lucy drop the subject. Instead her guide regaled her with stories of earlier jobs here. Like he had listed earlier, they involved a fair amount of property damage, which she was starting to become accustomed to. Without any warning, Natsu stopped short in front of her.

"Natsu what-" she was cut off when his hand covered her mouth.

"Be quiet," he whispered. Their eyes met and Lucy shivered from the intensity they held. He grabbed her wrist and dragged her into an alley.

"What's wrong Natsu?" Happy asked quietly. He didn't have to wait long for an answer.

"Did you see a girl, in her late teens, with blonde hair around here?" barked a police officer and the civilian he had stopped shook his head, terrified. Lucy felt like an ice cube was sliding down her spine. There were plenty of blondes in Era, she tried to reason with herself, that they could be looking for someone else.

"Maybe if we hear her name we can help you," the man offered and the officer seemed to think that it was a reasonable request.

"Her name is Lucy Heartfilia, and she's a threat to the city." Lucy gasped loudly, but not loud enough for the policeman to hear her. However, as Lucy stood in the alley with Natsu, the cop glanced at it from the corner of his eye and spotted them.

"Shit," Natsu swore softly. Before Lucy could blink, Natsu had her pressed up against the wall, leaving no space between them. Instinctively her face was coated in a dark shade of red. "Be still," he instructed softly. "If you don't move, he shouldn't be able to see us; these clothes can be camouflage." For a moment, Lucy felt safe. Something about his above-average temperature and how she could _feel_ every defined muscle made her feel protected. The cop narrowed his eyes and pulled out a device that started beeping immediately.

"Lahar, I found the Heartfilia girl and she's with Salamander." They couldn't hear the words but when the policeman started for them Natsu swore again.

"Of course he has a fucking thermal detector! Change of plans. You can't run fast enough so I'm just gonna carry you." With no warning he scooped her up in his arms. Lucy shrieked and automatically wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Put me down!" she demanded but Natsu kept running never looking back. Happy was flying next to them and Natsu said something into his communicator but Lucy couldn't hear what it was. Natsu skittered to a stop when he reached a square where they found themselves surrounded.

"Fuck!" he shouted and let Lucy down. "Happy, take Lucy and get her to the car. I can deal with these guys."

"No Natsu I'm not leaving without you!" Lucy argued back making her friend's eye twitch.

"Happy," Natsu gestured vaguely with his hands.

"Aye sir." The cat grabbed Lucy's shirt in between his paws and lifted them off the ground.

"Dragneel come back to us in one piece!" Lucy yelled over the wind. All she saw was a megawatt grin and joyous laughter.

"Let him do what he does best," Happy advised her. "He's been in worse situations than this. He's probably having fun."

Natsu knew how Lucy felt, wanting to stay with her friends and fight, but he wasn't willing to risk her safety. A dozen Era 'knights', as they called themselves, were positioned at each entrance to the square. "Hey guys, how's it going?" Natsu asked cheerfully as if he was meeting up with old friends. "Long time no see! I see Era is beautifully managed as always." The sarcasm in his words didn't go unnoticed. He was pleased to see that many of them bristled at the underhand insult to how they were protecting the city. "How's Lahar doing?"

"Be quiet Salamander," one of the leaders sneered. "We can't run around blowing up buildings based off of _rumors_ that we've heard from questionable sources."

"And yet, we're the ones putting criminals in jail," Natsu countered with a smug grin on his face. "All I see are cars with sirens with people inside them getting nothing accomplished. These, 'questionable sources' you speak of were kind enough to inform me that there was a lot of black market action here." There were a combination of growls and hisses at the implication behind Natsu's words. "Scandalous I know; especially because the people turning a blind eye to the drug rings that are established are right in front of me. There were other things mentioned of course, but I won't tell them to you." The sneers and scowls on everyone's face made Natsu grin in excitement.

"What did you do with the Heartfilia girl?" one of the people who looked like he was in charge asked.

"I'm not forcing her to do anything she doesn't want to." They didn't have to know that he had basically forced her to join Fairy Tail, she was happier with them anyway. "Tell me, did her father tell you about this? That she ran away from home?"

"We don't have to tell you anything brat," one of the guards spat. "You still need to be brought to court for the fire that you caused two years ago and you need to be sentenced for helping those two criminals infiltrate our government."

"The only reason why we had to infiltrate the government was because everyone here's too caught up in their greed so it comes to 'brats' like us to take care of everything! If we were in charge of the city, all of you would be fired." He flashed a slightly sadistic grin. "Like this!" He grabbed his rapid-fire gun and shot flames at the ground in front of a squadron leader's feet.

From up above, Era looked so peaceful. Or it would have if the city streets weren't flooded with law enforcement squads that looked like ants from up in the sky. A green flare signal was shot up into the sky and Happy angled himself toward it. "That color means that Erza or Gray are there at the car. Hopefully it's both."

"How will Natsu get back?" Lucy asked.

"Normally he just steals cars," Happy replied nonchalantly. For some reason, Lucy wasn't particularly surprised. Somewhere behind them, they heard an explosion and Happy laughed. "That's probably Natsu, he can make anything explode." If Lucy didn't know any better he sounded proud.

"That's why they call him Salamander then," Lucy realized. "Because he's a pyromaniac."

"Yep," Happy chirped in reply. "Erza! Gray!" he called when they reached the location where the flare was shot from.

"Thank goodness you're ok." Erza rushed over immediately. "Where's Natsu?"

"We had to leave him behind but he was surrounded by Era police officers," Lucy explained. "We heard an explosion go off though so he must be doing ok."

"I want to go back and help him," Wendy said from where she was next to Gray.

"We can't. Cops will show up here any minute too. Erza, we need to get going. Natsu can figure out a way to get back to us; we've been in these situations before."

"What the hell is that?" Erza asked as a bright light was shining down on them from a helicopter.

"What kind of stunts did you pull to make Era officials hate you this much?" Lucy yelled over the noise of whirring chopper blades.

"Well we _did_ help Jellal and Ultear infiltrate the council," Wendy recalled, "they couldn't have appreciated it that much. Then there's also the fact that Natsu blew up one of their weapon warehouses which also had a stash of drugs hidden in it." Lucy hit her hand against her forehead.

"If you don't surrender yourselves, or at least the Heartfilia girl, we'll be forced to take action," a loud, magnified voice said from the helicopter.

"Lahar," Gray snarled and glared up at the aircraft. "Get in guys, we're getting out of here. I hate leaving Natsu behind, but most of their focus will be on us. Lucy come on!" Gray yanked her into the car and he slid into the driver's seat. "Hold on guys, I'm driving this thing and it's not going to be an easy ride."

"What does he mean by that?" Lucy asked to no one in particular.

"You'll find out soon," Wendy said, her face a pale shade of green. "I hate motion-sickness."

"Don't you have that troia medicine with you?" Erza asked and Wendy perked up. "I think it's here in the front." As Erza reached to get it from the glove compartment the car lurched to the side as Gray made a fast turn. Completely unperturbed, Erza handed the bottle to Wendy.

"Thank you Erza," Wendy said and she gulped it down, without any water. The timing was perfect because Gray floored the accelerator.

"How fast can this thing go?" Lucy managed to say after a particularly sharp turn.

"Sawyer, you might better know him better as Racer, from Crime Sorciere rigged it so it can hit 200 mph," Erza informed her. "He's great at mechanics."

"That's good to know," Lucy squeaked. "Can I have some of that troia stuff too?" Wendy handed her the bottle as she turned to look behind them.

"Damn, Gray they're gaining on us!" she cried.

"How the fuck is that possible?" he yelled. He flicked a switch on the dashboard and an automated female voice said "stealth mode activated."

"What does stealth mode do?" Lucy asked.

"When Sawyer started screwing around with our cars, he equipped some sort of stealth thing so we're essentially invisible. Only our allies have this because Jellal isn't going to sell this to anyone else." Wendy let out a pent-up breath.

"It seems like they're going away," Charle sighed in relief. "Could they detect us with a thermal scanner?" she asked as an afterthought.

"No, this car runs off of electricity so no heat is produced," Gray answered. "We'll keep driving for a little bit longer just to make sure we're not being followed. I think the helicopter went away too. Erza can you call Flame Brain to make sure he's ok?" To Lucy's frustration, she could only hear Erza's side of the conversation.

"Natsu? Yes we're safe. Where are you? Still? Be careful. Alright goodbye."

"Is he alright?" Charle asked and Erza shrugged her shoulders.

"It's hard to stay with him. He's still trying to get out of the city limits but he's close to leaving. He found a car, by the way."

"That's a relief." Lucy let herself relax.

"You like him," Happy teased.

"Shut it cat, or you're going to get hurt," Lucy threatened, glaring at the blue exceed.

Lucy had never been so relieved to reach their house. Much to her dismay however, the driveway was empty. After their eyes were scanned, they entered the house the group dispersed to go to their own rooms. Lucy made a beeline for the bathroom to take a bath and try to relax. She tried to relax, really she did, but two thoughts were circulating in her mind. Where was Natsu and who found out that she would be in Era?

It was relatively late when she finally heard the front door click open. Everyone was already asleep, except for her. She padded out into the hallway to see Natsu covered in soot, scrapes, and bruises, but grinning at her nonetheless. "Hi Lucy! Is everyone asleep already?"

"Already? Natsu it's nearly midnight!" Lucy shrieked, yet softly enough to not wake up the whole house. After all, an Erza who had a disturbed nights sleep was not a fun Erza to deal with.

"I'm sorry it took so long, Era police are the worst. Who cares if I did blow up some shit?" He seemed genuinely upset about something and Lucy had a feeling it wasn't just because of property damage.

"What's wrong Natsu?" she asked quietly and he looked at her.

"Can I shower first?" Lucy nodded and he slipped into the bathroom she had previously been in. Lucy was on edge though. Levy had pulled her aside and told her that something was wrong with the situation. She said she couldn't explain what it was, just that she didn't like it that much. Lucy decided that, to calm herself down, she would make a cup of tea. She decided to make one for Natsu too; he probably needed it. She was cautiously sipping the tea when Natsu walked back into the kitchen wearing sweats and a gray sweatshirt.

"Do you want some?"

He sighed and collapsed on the barstool next to her. "Yeah, that would be great, thank you Lucy." Natsu was massaging his temples when Lucy set the mug down in front of him.

"So what happened?" Lucy prodded, turning to face her friend who looked way too exhausted for someone his age.

"First things first, I'm sure you've figured this out by now, but we have a traitor in Fairy Tail. That's the only way the Era 'Knights' Squad could've known that you'd be here. Anything that could've been used for intel is protected by the best security in Fiore and there wasn't a hacker."

"Do you have any idea who it might be?" Natsu just shook his head.

"Why would anyone want to do this?" he hit the island, causing the mug of tea to rattle. "You haven't done anything! You're completely innocent!"

"Natsu," she murmured. "It's ok; you said you expected this didn't you? And besides, my father probably told all of his friends about me running away." She paused for a minute and Natsu nursed his cup of tea. "I'm sorry." Natsu seemed to do a double take.

"What are you apologizing for? You haven't done anything!"

"I should've just gone back to my father when we met him, it would've saved you all this trouble." In a flash, Natsu grabbed her shoulders, forcing her to make eye contact.

"Don't say that. You're worth it, of course you are. Lucy, I swear on my honor as a member of Fairy Tail, I will never let you go back there. As long as you're with me you're safe."

"What else is there?" Lucy asked gently and Natsu took a sip of his tea. He buried his face in his hands.

"I don't know whether to believe his words or not," Natsu murmured, mostly talking to himself though. "I heard something over their communicator." Sensing his inner turmoil Lucy placed her hand over his that was curled into a fist. He sighed and rubbed his eyes. "I heard someone say that a 'prisoner' was acting up and…"he trailed off and lifted his head out of his hands to look at her. The joy that was in his face when he entered the house was gone replaced by sorrow. He sighed again and he closed his eyes. "Do you think it's possible that it's Evelyn?"

"I don't know," Lucy answered softly. "But Natsu," he looked at her when she said his name, "we'll find her. You know we will."

"But what if it's too late?"

"Damn it Natsu!" Lucy yelled. "What happened to being hopeful; you know we'll find her!"

"What matters is that if we find her, and it's too late, and she's dead there's nothing we can do about it!" he argued back as a tear slid down his face. "I can't lose another family member Lucy!" Her heart broke when his voice cracked. Lucy slid off of her barstool and gave Natsu a tight hug. He seemed startled before wrapping his arms around her waist and burying his face in her shoulder.

"Natsu," Lucy said gently, like she was talking to a child. "We'll find her. I'll help you look no matter how long it takes." They remained like that until Natsu stopped crying. "C'mon, do you want to sleep in my room?" Her friend looked up at her face. If he hadn't been an emotional mess, he would have looked surprised.

"Why?"

"I don't want you to be by yourself." Natsu wasn't an idiot; he knew she was thinking about how the last time something like this had happened she had found him slicing his skin open with razors.

"Ok," he consented softly. He padded down the hall and into her room while she rinsed the mugs in the sink and left them there until the morning. Lucy took a deep breath before following him into the room. She could see Natsu's silhouette against the window, what he was looking at Lucy had no idea but she walked up to him and tugged on his hand.

"C'mon Natsu, let's go to sleep." He obeyed and lay down next to her. "Everything will be better tomorrow." Natsu wanted to believe her so, so much. But he couldn't. Still, he had a gut feeling that he would be seeing the bastards who kidnapped his sister soon, but he tried to take Lucy's advice and go to sleep. Natsu couldn't explain why he draped his arm over her waist but, now that Natsu thought about it, Lucy had become more than just the girl he had seen hiding in the shadow of a building all those weeks ago. She had become a member of Fairy Tail and had somehow become a good friend. Natsu didn't he think he deserved to have someone like her around but now he didn't want her to leave.

"You're thinking again," Lucy's sleepy voiced scolded. "Just go to sleep Natsu." Deciding to take her advice he closed his eyes and drifted into a bright, happy dream that he wished was his reality.


	12. Chapter 12

**Hi guys! I'm sorry for not updating sooner, school's been ridiculous af. But i finally got all my college apps turned in so that's good. Anyways more Nalu and plot development are in here and some more mentions of self-harm. Enjoy and I'll see you later.**

"So are you sure they were talking about Evelyn?" Erza pressed at breakfast later that morning. Natsu didn't say anything; he just finished pouring himself coffee and took a sip. Erza continued glaring at his back as Natsu grabbed a stack of pancakes that Lucy had made and drenched them in syrup. "Natsu." He turned his head around to the woman who was giving him a scrutinizing

"I. Don't. Know. Erza. Hence, why I'm asking you for advice." Her brown eyes narrowed at his attitude. Lucy sympathized with him; this could not be the best thing to deal with first thing in the morning. "Erza can I have twenty minutes of peace before everything goes to shit?" He didn't wait for a response. Natsu stormed out of the room and slammed the door to his bedroom shut.

"You shouldn't have been so rough with him Erza; he's going through a hard time," Lucy tried to reason with her. "I can't even imagine what he's going through right now."

"Can I have hot chocolate?" Wendy asked trying to lessen the tension in the room.

"I'll get it for you child," Charle answered and flew over to the cabinets to look for chocolate. Lucy bit her lip and looked down the hallway where Natsu had gone. She slipped from the kitchen and knocked on his door. When there wasn't a response she frowned.

"Natsu," she called softly. She rapped on the door again. When there was no reply she opened the door. The blinds were drawn so only a sliver of sunlight was shining through. There was no one in the room so she went to the bathroom and braced herself before opening the door. Natsu was standing in front of the mirror, shirtless, water dripping off his face, and holding a razor in front of him. Lucy quickly moved behind him and wrapped her arms around him.

"Lucy," he murmured. Natsu put the razor down and covered Lucy's slim hands with his. He hung his head and Lucy watched as a small tear ran down his face.

If the situation was less serious, Lucy was positive she would be blushing. They were in front of a mirror and this was the really the first time to actually look at him. Now was not the time to note how attractive he really was and she mentally scolded herself. "It's going to be ok Natsu." Their eyes locked in the mirror and she saw that Natsu was trying to believe her. He desperately wanted to feel hopeful, to be confident that they could reach his adopted sister in time but the positive thoughts weren't there. Lucy recognized his face. It was the face of someone who had suffered pain and sadness at a young age. It was the face of someone who had lost a person so close to their hearts that they felt nothing would be right again. She recognized that expression; she had seen it on herself when her mother died. Against her will, tears welled up in her eyes.

"I know how you feel." Natsu closed his eyes and turned around. When he opened his eyes Lucy's heart broke.

"I'm not supposed to be like this," he whispered. "I shouldn't be like this. Right?"

"There's nothing wrong with you," Lucy comforted him. "It's ok to feel like this. I felt like this when my mother died." The confession was so soft, so genuine that Natsu felt more tears come to his eyes. He knelt down to the floor, bringing Lucy with him, and locked his arms around her waist. Lucy flushed pink but she returned his hug. "Natsu, we need to go back. You need to eat." He shook his head and Lucy sighed. "Yes Natsu, come on." She stood up and pulled him up with her. Still sulking, Natsu allowed her to bring him into the kitchen.

"I made some eggs if you want some," Wendy offered. Natsu grunted and grabbed some sriracha sauce and drowned the whole plate of scrambled eggs in the red sauce. Without making eye contact with anyone he slumped into a chair and began picking at the food in front of him.

"Natsu you need to eat," Lucy reminded him and he just looked up at her in response. She could see the pain in his eyes. Lucy turned back to the rest of the group. "Why don't you all start getting ready for the day?"

"They're in love," Happy cooed but Charle just snorted.

"Don't say such foolish things," the white cat scolded as the two flew out of the room.

"Natsu we talked about this. If Evelyn is here we need you to take care of yourself. _We can't do this without you_." As Natsu started eating the eggs in front of him, Lucy served herself two pancakes and squealed when she saw strawberry syrup in the fridge. The two ate in silence. Somewhere in the mansion she heard a crash and Erza started yelling at someone. Probably Gray.

"So what are we doing today?" Gray asked as he reentered the room, wearing sweats but no shirt.

"Well we can't easily travel in the city anymore because of yesterday." Erza entered the room with her arms crossed. "Gray can continue monitoring the city."

"If we're careful going through the city shouldn't be a problem," Natsu cut in. "We can wear disguises or something and ask around."

"Or we can hack," Gray prompted.

"Yes, we can," Erza agreed. "Gray, can you get into the 'Knights' computers and see who the 'prisoner' is?" It was worded like a question but there was no mistaking the command behind it. Gray _would_ figure out a way to get into their systems or else.

They finally decided that Gray and Wendy would stay at the mansion while Natsu, Lucy, and Erza were going into the city. Erza had commanded that they split up. Natsu had firmly argued back that Lucy had to be with someone because there was a reward for finding her. Lucy had stayed silent through the whole exchange while the two violent teenagers yelled at each other.

"Natsu she can't go with you! They'll be looking for both of you now. She's safer with me," Erza snarled. Natsu hissed back.

"Natsu, Erza's probably right." Lucy hated to side with Erza. "They'll expect me to be with you. And besides, it'll be easier for you to sneak around since you won't have to worry about protecting me." The pinkette growled in response, but both Lucy and Erza weren't taking no for an answer.

"Luuucy," he whined and Erza rolled her eyes.

"Enough Natsu," Erza commanded as the car rolled to a stop. "The decision has been made and besides, we'll be in touch the entire time. Come along Lucy."

"See you later Natsu." She waved and got a grunt in return. Lucy bit her lip and wondered if she had made the right decision. "He'll be ok won't he?"

"Natsu knows what he's doing, he'll be fine." Lucy nodded but she couldn't shake the feeling that something bad was going to happen.

With the hood on his sweatshirt up, with Happy walking next to him, Natsu easily walked through the crowds of people in the city without fear of being noticed. Pink hair did tend to stand out. As he strode through the city keeping an eye out for anything suspicious, his mind travelled back to that morning. Even though his sleep last night was probably the best sleep he's had in weeks, he felt irritated this morning. He had stormed off into his room because he needed time to clear his head and organize his emotions. But he didn't know how to do that without hurting himself. Natsu had been moments away from tearing into his skin when Lucy had interrupted. Looking back on it, Natsu was glad she did. Natsu knew that both Gray and Erza had gone through similar situations with their parents, but they had never been truly alone. Gray had had Lyon and Ultear and Erza had had Millianna before they went their separate ways. Lucy knew what it was like to lose people that were probably one of her only remaining connections to her past. Recalling her expression in the mirror and when he was crying on the floor, he realized with a pang that she probably knew what he was going through more than anyone else.

For the first couple months after Layla Heartfilia had died, Loke had kept him informed of Jude's change in personality and temperament. How he never interacted with his daughter anymore, how he would hit her if she misbehaved. He couldn't imagine how lonely that must have been. When Igneel and his uncles and aunt went missing, at least he had his cousins. And yet, even though he had his Fairy Tail family, he felt alone. Especially now. Lucy had been alone. She knew what he was going through. Maybe one of the only people who understood him.

"Watch where you're going idiot," someone sneered as he bumped into a guy on the sidewalk. "Jerk." Natsu just kept his head low and pushed past him. "Answer me!" The man lunged and grabbed his wrist.

"Listen, I don't want to fight," Natsu growled, keeping his head low. "Just let me pass and nothing has to happen." Finally looking up Natsu swore under his breath. "Fuck."

"I heard that there was a salamander running around the city. I didn't think you were stupid enough to show your face here again." Natsu tensed and looked down at Happy.

"Find Lucy and Erza," Natsu muttered, low enough for only his cat to hear him. Without a word, Happy scampered away to try and find the two girls who had vanished almost as soon as they exited the car. Natsu silently prayed that Happy would find them without too much trouble. Reluctantly he looked back up into the smirking face of Dan Straight, one of the people in charge of the Zentopia branch of the Era government. They masqueraded as a religious organization but in reality they were the farthest thing from pious. From the few encounters Natsu had had with Dan he came to two conclusions: he was an egomaniac and a pervert.

"Where's Lu-Lu?" Natsu wanted to stab him for the lecherous expression on his face.

"Lu-Lu?" Natsu questioned as he raised an eyebrow.

"Well we know each other," he boasted. "We have a really good relationship."

"Oh I'm sure. She speaks very highly of how perverted you are," Natsu retorted, taking pleasure in the frustration that flickered across his face.

"Now are you going to come quietly or will we have to fight?" Natsu shrugged.

"I don't care, do whatever." He pulled out handcuffs and Natsu winced at the clicking noise of them shutting. His only hope was that this would lead him to Evelyn.

Meanwhile, Erza and Lucy were having a fun time window shopping while listening for anything suspicious. "Erza! Lucy!"

"Happy what's wrong?" Erza crossed her arms and frowned.

"Natsu got arrested."

"He got what?" Erza screeched. "What idiot thing did he do now?"

"Natsu bumped into Dan Straight and he went willingly. He told me to find you and I did." Erza sighed and Lucy looked concerned. Lucy knew what Natsu was thinking. He probably thought that if he was arrested he would find his sister.

"I know why he went," Lucy piped up. "He's probably hoping to find Evelyn in prison. I'm just afraid of what will happen if he does see her." _Or if he doesn't_ she added silently. Lucy could see irritation creeping across her face and Lucy sighed. "We should go back to see if Gray has found anything yet." Erza pursed her lips and sighed.

"I'll send messages to our allies. Sting and Rogue will want to know as well." Happy was wearing a nervous yet sad expression on his face. Lucy scooped up the blue cat and held him close to her.

"It's ok, Natsu will manage," Lucy comforted and Happy just nodded. "Do you want fish when we get back?" He perked up considerably at the thought of eating fish.

The ride back to the mansion was silent and tense. When they entered the house there was music playing and both Wendy and Gray were eating cake while they were monitoring the live feeds from the cameras throughout the city.

"Where's Natsu?" Wendy asked and Lucy bit her lip.

"He got arrested by Dan Straight," Happy replied and Lucy shivered at the name. "Do you know him Lucy?"

"Unfortunately. He was a suitor that my father tried to set me up with. What a pervert. We think Natsu went quietly to try and find Evelyn." Gray and Wendy shared a glance before both sighed.

"Did you see it on your cameras Gray?" Wendy asked and Gray shrugged.

"All of the videos are recorded so we can go back and look for where they were and where they went. Maybe I can hack into their criminal records to see where they're holding him."

Erza nodded her agreement. "Very well then. I'm going to message Sting and Rogue to tell them that we might have found Evelyn." Happy padded over to the freezer and took out a fish and began to gnaw on it even though it was frozen. Lucy sighed and decided to take a bath to de-stress from the day.

"I'll make dinner tonight Lucy," Wendy offered and Lucy smiled at her.

"Thank you Wendy."

As they sat down to dinner Gray cleared his throat. "I managed to get into the government's prison records. Natsu was processed and is being held in the high-security wards." Erza grimaced.

"I don't see why I'm surprised. The cells are bulletproof glass so in theory no one can be broken out." Gray smiled as he was about to say something a ringing started from one of the hologram displays. Gray swiped and a video of Sting and Rogue standing outside their house appeared.

"Can we come in or will we have to hack the system?" Sting asked with a teasing smile.

"Absolutely not," Wendy giggled as she went to open the gates and doors for them.

"So have we found out anything?" Rogue asked as they gathered around the dinner table.

"Natsu's being held in a high-security prison cell and he was arrested by Dan Straight. So far no records of Evelyn have come up. Although to be fair they organize their systems by legal last name so of course it wouldn't come up as Dragneel," Gray explained.

"Evelyn never told you her legal last name?" Lucy asked and Erza shook her head.

"Era likes to boast that their high-security wards are invincible," Sting smirked. "They haven't met us yet." Wendy laughed and Gray chuckled. Even Erza had a smile on her face.

"We'll plan our attack tomorrow. I think all of us need to relax before things get intense tomorrow.

The Era prisons weren't as bad as other ones that Natsu had seen before. The bulletproof glass cells were clean and the beds were actually semi-comfortable. Of course the glass was also soundproof so he could barely hear what was happening outside the cell. For the position he was in, Natsu was pretty calm. He knew without a shadow of a doubt that Gray had managed to hack into the government undetected and that Erza had most likely called Sting and Rogue. They would make their plans over the next day or two and then he would be free. But first he had to figure out a way to get out of the cell so he could investigate the rest of the building. From what he had experienced, the Era wardens were pretty naïve, which was surprising considering the main seat of government was here.

All he had to think about was any mode of transportation and he immediately felt queasy. He had nailed the expression he had when he got carsick and so when he collapsed on the bed holding his hands over his mouth with puffed up cheeks it was only a matter of time before a guard came to his room to escort him to a bathroom so he wouldn't make a mess in his cell. Natsu smirked as soon as he entered the room. He made fake retching noises before calling to the guard outside, "I'm going to be in here for a while, I don't want to take up too much of your time." Natsu kept his ear pressed to the door and was relieved when the guard had taken the bait. The only difficult part would be sneaking around. The floors all formed a border around an open space at the bottom of the building for a cafeteria so it was easy for someone to look across and see someone with pink hair and a scarf walking through the halls with no escort. That being said, Fairy Tail had access to every document in the prisons from floor plans to schedules. He just had to wait two more minutes and then he could explore to his heart's content since that was when curfew was called and there was only one security guard left for the whole building. And even if he was caught, he was sure he'd see his adoptive sister where they dealt out punishment. No doubt she had put up a fight from the very first day she had arrived. _Soon_ , he promised himself, _you'll see her again soon._


	13. Chapter 13

**Hi guys! This is a shorter chapter by maybe 1000 words but this kind of gives an intro to what's going to happen next and I think this chapter could be fairly emotion. *****NOTE: THERE ARE MENTIONS OF SELF HARM!***** Anyway, I hope you guys like it. Can I also say I can't believe this is approaching 100 followers? It's unbelievable, so thank you so much. R &R**

Natsu's night started off fairly well. He got maybe three yards away from his door before sirens went off and he was surprised when they dragged him past his room.

"Do I get to know where I'm going or is that classified?" He didn't expect the guard to answer.

"You won't see daylight," he said shortly.

"Oh so solitary confinement. Wonderful." That snarky comment earned him a punch to the jaw. Natsu used the impact from the punch to his advantage and fell back, yanking the guard with him. While the guard was on the ground Natsu kicked his ribs, grabbed his shirt and slammed him against the wall hard enough to give him a small concussion. He dropped the guard and ran, not forgetting to grab the lanyard from around his neck that had a security keycard. Natsu rolled his eyes. Best security in Fiore? Any decent security system used eye scanners instead of cards. Casually, Natsu headed in the same direction the guard had been dragging him toward. If Natsu knew Evelyn, she would have been put in solitary confinement a long time ago for causing too much trouble.

The solitary confinement ward was in a separate wing than the rest of the high-security prison. All the floors were cut up into segments. There were small sectioned off hallways with a clear cell taking up two thirds of the space, leaving barely enough room for someone to walk by and into another sectioned off area. Doors that were impossible to see allowed the wardens to go in and out of the rooms by a keypad that was outside on the glass wall. The problem? The halls seemed endless and there were four floors of nothing but segmented hallways and rooms. At that moment, Natsu really wished he had something he could use to hack the building. "This is dumb," he muttered under his breath. As he approached the door that lead to the fourth floor of the solitary confinement wing he swiped the security card and the door opened.

Thankfully there was dim lighting in the hallways at night since there were no windows or skylights. Natsu wanted to move quickly so he quickly glanced over the people in each cell, using his scientifically enhanced senses to sniff out his adoptive sister. Less than five cells into his search, he was thoroughly disgusted with Era's wardens.

Some people were lying on the provided beds normally; most of them however were curled up with blankets over their heads, those that weren't under blankets looked incredibly beaten up. Bruises and scrapes painted their skin shades of blues, purples, and reds. Natsu had to resist the urge to lead a rebellion. No human being should be treated like this. This wasn't just prison at this point, this was an excuse for torture. He prayed to every deity that he knew of that he wouldn't get caught by wardens or guards before he found anything important.

The farther down the hallway he went, the worse people's conditions became. All the cells were spotless but towards the end of the fourth floor hallway, there were people curled up in corners rocking themselves with tear tracks glistening in the dim light. Natsu felt ice spread through his heart as he realized this was only the tip of the iceberg for the punishment Era law enforcement had come up with. Evelyn wasn't on the fourth floor. Natsu was scared to see the damage that had been inflicted on his sister. If he did, he'd have to break his promise and kill someone.

When Lucy woke up in the middle of the night, she decided to make some tea to calm herself down. When Lucy entered the kitchen she saw Gray was still up, typing in lines of code and trying to gain access to the prison's computer system. "Have you made any progress?" Lucy asked and Gray jumped at her voice.

"Some. I found out where Natsu's cell was before they changed it to solitary confinement." Lucy gasped and held her hands up to her mouth in horror. The few times Lucy had had to deal with Dan Straight he always seemed proud of the punishment and cruelty solitary confinement in Era inflicted on the inmates. "I wouldn't worry yet though. They probably scanned him for technology when he entered the building but they don't know about the microchip that all of us have. I've activated the code and I've been tracking his movements and compared his coordinates to those on the blueprints." Gray moved so Lucy could see a 3D view of the prison blueprints on a coordinate grid with a blinking red dot moving slowly down the hallway.

"How long has he been there?" Lucy asked.

"Definitely for around ten minutes. He's going through all of the solitary confinement cells looking for Evelyn. I just hope he doesn't get caught."

"Why are you two up?" Sting yawned. " I could hear you from my room."

"Sorry Sting, I've been tracking Natsu. I guessed that he got into a fight with a guard, won, and started snooping around the solitary confinement wing to find Evie." While the two teenagers talked, Lucy made herself a mug of tea. While Lucy was trying not to spit out the tea due to how hot it was, Sting walked over to her.

"Lucy can I talk to alone for a second?" Lucy arched an eyebrow but followed Sting back to his room. In the dark Lucy could see Rogue leaning on a couch, Frosch on his stomach, but Natsu's cousin was definitely awake. Lector was curled up on a chair blissfully ignoring everything. "How has Natsu been?" Lucy stayed silent until Rogue sighed.

"We know about everything that happened with him when Evelyn initially disappeared. We're maybe one of the only ones who know how far he had fallen," Rogue explained.

"He didn't tell me about that but I can guess what happened." Lucy collected herself and looked at the ceiling. "When we got a lead on her in Hargeon and it turned out to be fake, Natsu drove back to the mansion and locked himself in his bathroom. When Happy and I got there he was cutting." The two cousins shared glances with each other and nodded. "And then this morning, I think he was considering it again after Erza kept interrogating him over whether or not the police

were actually talking about Evelyn."

"And he was making so much progress too," Sting lamented with a sad smile.

"Has no one questioned anything? Has anyone noticed?"

Sting and Rogue shared another glance. "If they have, they haven't asked about it. I guess they just thought whatever he went through was over."

"What was he like before this?" Lucy asked.

"Less harsh, less cold," Rogue summed up. It seemed that Rogue never really talked that much. Or maybe that was just around her.

Walking through the desolate halls of the prison was depressing, Natsu decided as he worked his way through the third floor and was approaching the stairwell to the second floor. So far he hadn't seen or smelt Evelyn, which meant she had to be on the second or first floors, where they kept the people who had been decided to be tortured worse than any of the other inmates. Natsu clenched his fist at the image that came to his head. He noticed that some of the people on this floor seemed to be unconscious and their clothes were covered in dried blood. Natsu shook himself out of his reverie and practically sprinted through the hallways to reach the stairs. If she wasn't down the stairs, he didn't know where she could be.

"Please be here," he prayed to himself. Natsu felt his fingers cross in a gesture of hope. There was nothing until the fourth cell in that a figure caught his attention. The pinkette found himself staring into a glass room where a girl with black hair was crumpled on the floor. It was the smell that got him though. Underneath the smell of sweat, tears, and blood was Evelyn's campfire and pine scent. Natsu's breath caught. "Evelyn!" Completely forgetting about the pressure-sensitive enclosures he started banging on the glass wall. "Evie! Wake up! Please!" Red lights started flashing and alarms were wailing. The girl's eyelids flickered open and made eye contact with her brother. Natsu shuddered at her eyes. Those bright, happy eyes were gone. Not literally of course, but she looked dead. Like the people Natsu had seen before her, she was covered in dried blood and his heart froze when he saw the countless scars that seemed to cover every inch of her skin. Most were healed and they had healed nicely. They were all paler than her skin and some were thick and actually were raised above her skin while others were smaller and thin.

"What are you doing here?" a voice boomed and multiple guards had both exits blocked off.

"Lahar, what a pleasure to see you again," Natsu said in a deadly calm voice. "I see you've been treating my sister well. I'll have to thank you for that." Before he could even move a small dart hit his shoulder. Natsu looked down at his arm. "Fuck my life." Then he passed out and was dragged into the first solitary confinement cell that had been kept empty just for him.

To say Evelyn was confused would be an understatement. All she wanted to do was sleep; today's 'conduct lesson' had been brutal. She really resented all of the technology that had been developed because it fell into wrong hands. Scientists who had been bribed with money and power had turned technology that was supposed to be helpful into what she dubbed 'nightmare magic'. Panic attacks, drug-induced nightmares, physical beatings, electrocution, terrifying hallucinations, mind manipulation, and so much more had made her life a living hell. And she was so, so _tired_. Sleep was precious because she didn't know _when_ the wardens would decide to start messing with her mind again. The food that they gave out was barely enough to keep her from starving and water was precious. So when she saw someone who looked and sounded suspiciously as her adopted brother, Evelyn shrugged it off as a cruel hallucination. Her tormentors weren't above doing something like that. And besides, they had told her that Natsu had been killed. She was so tired and hopeless that she just accepted it, after almost clawing out Dan Straight's eyes that is. That punishment had been harsh. Tears welled up in her eyes and lifting her head up was exhausting so she hit the cold floor and unconsciously cried herself to sleep.

Meanwhile Gray, Lucy, and Sting were still tracking Natsu's movements. "He stopped at these coordinates," Lucy noted. "Do you think that could be where Evelyn is?"

"Maybe so," Gray agreed as he recorded Natsu's location. Or it could be his new cell."

"I don't think so because now he's moving away and…oh. It looks like he's been put in a cell," Sting observed and Gray recorded more information. "Should we call in the others for help?"

"How can we break Evie out without starting a riot among the people that genuinely deserve to be there is a better question," Gray answered. "Let's figure this out after we've all had some sleep."

 **So a bit of a cliffhanger and we finally get introduced to Evelyn and her POV. See you guys later!**


	14. Chapter 14

**Hey guys! I'm back! I'm sorry it's been a while. School's been crazy and gymnastics season started so I've been super tired. Anyway, this is another kind of filler chapter just to kind of introduce what's going to happen in the next chapter. I'm sorry if this isn't my best, I had writer's block with this. ALSO THERE ARE MENTIONS OF TORTURE IN THE SECOND HALF TO SHOW WHAT EVELYN AND NOW NATSU ARE GOING THROUGH SO IF YOU DON'T WANT TO READ IT, YOU DON'T HAVE TO. Anyway enjoy!**

Fairy Tail's mansion location in Era had been buzzing with activity since five in the morning. Gray was still monitoring Era's prison and keeping tabs on Natsu and Evelyn's whereabouts. Meanwhile, everyone else was crowded around holographic blueprints with various drawings on it.

"I still say we should wait," Erza stated and everyone glared at her.

"We've pulled off crazier stuff than this before Erza," Sting glanced at her and Erza's eye twitched. "Besides, the longer we wait, the more trouble Natsu's going to get in to."

"I agree with Sting," Gray called from where he was seated. "All of us know that Natsu's impulsive and he's in a situation where if he does anything stupid he can get killed."

"He's right Erza," Rogue concurred. "And don't forget, Evelyn's been there for a year. We know she's alive, but we don't know how long she'll last. I've heard horror stories about what goes on in Era's solitary confinement ward."

"All of us have," Wendy nodded her head in agreement. "I say we go as soon as we can."

"Very well then," Erza dropped her head and sighed. "Gray, are you confident you can override the security system long enough for us to sneak in and sneak out?"

"Yeah, I can unlock prison cells from a remote location so that won't be a problem." Off to the side lists of numbers were crawling along the hologram and Gray looked at them quickly. "Once we get the cells unlocked, the most time I can give you is a seven to ten minute window before the security system comes back online."

"I think we should call in backup," Lucy voiced and Erza nodded her approval.

"I'll call Gajeel and some of the others to come here now."

"Do you think you can get Jellal to come? It probably won't work but can you try?"

"I can talk to him, I can't make any promises." And with that the redhead walked out of the kitchen and into a bedroom to start making phone calls.

Lucy decided she needed energy so she wandered over to the cabinet and pulled out a mug for tea. "Do any of you want tea?" There was a chorus of agreement and she smiled. Peppermint tea was soothing, so after she heated up the water, she dropped a peppermint teabag in each mug. Lucy could hear Erza talking in one of the rooms but she couldn't hear what she was saying.

"So are all the plans made yet?" Wendy asked as she nursed her mug of tea.

"For the most part," Gray said, his eyes never leaving the holographic display in front of him. "I mean, I think we figured out a way to get them in and out since I can override the system for a little bit. I just think we need more people incase we're not fast enough."

"I could call in some of the others from Saber," Sting suggested. "Yukino and Minerva would be more than happy to help. Maybe Rufus and Orga too."

"I'll go call them now." Rogue left the room dialing a number on his phone.

"Do you think they'll come?" Wendy asked her older cousin.

"Of course they will," Sting ruffled her blue hair. "They're always up for a good fight." Erza walked back into the room with a not-happy expression. "What happened Erza?"

"Jellal isn't answering and Gajeel and Levy won't get here until nightfall because they're running a small job right now. Where did Rogue go?"

"He's calling Minerva, Yukino, Rufus, and Orga to see if they'll come," Gray answered. "Do you think we could ask Lamia and Pegasus too? With the amount of times we bailed them out of trouble they should come and help us."

"That's an excellent idea Gray," Erza nodded. "Would you like to call Lyon and ask him?"

"Would I like to? No, not really. Will I because I have to? Sure, why not," Gray muttered before typing in a command and a video screen popped up in the air.

"Hello Gray," Lyon answered within a matter of seconds.

"Hi Lyon," Gray responded with forced enthusiasm. "Would you mind helping us out?" Gray looked like he was bracing himself for whatever his cousin's response was going to be.

"You need my help, do you?" Lucy could see why Gray was trying to control himself. He was wearing a smug smirk and had an arched eyebrow as if he was proud that he was being asked for help. "What do you need my help with?"

"We're trying to break Natsu and Evelyn out of prison," Erza broke in, giving Gray a break. "We finally found her and Natsu got arrested. We have a way to get them out but it involves a limited amount of time to safely get them out. Extra help would be nice if we don't get out in time."

"I'll ask Jura and Chelia but I believe we'll be able to come and help. If you're in Era it'll only take us an hour or so to get there."

"Excellent, we'll see you then. And thank you again." The screen went black and Gray punched in another number.

"This one's for Blue Pegasus. Having Hibiki working with me would make things a lot easier," Gray said, his eyes never leaving the screen. Lucy turned back to her tea and watched as Ichiya answered. This time it was Erza who looked like she was trying to control herself.

"Hello my comrades, can I help you?"

"Is Hibiki there?" Gray asked, stopping Erza from having to reply. "I really need to talk to him." Erza breathed a sigh of relief when Ichiya complied with minimal weirdness.

"Hello Gray." Hibiki Lates, the technology and communication expert from Blue Pegasus appeared on the video feed wearing a tux with his hair gelled to match what was considered 'hot' at the moment. "What's up?"

"We need your help. We finally found Evelyn and Natsu wound up and got himself arrested and they're in the solitary confinement ward in Era. I have a way to hack the system to get them out but actually getting out will be a problem. I can only override the system for five minutes. Would you be willing to help?" Hibiki rested his chin on his hand and looked like he was doing calculations in his head.

"If I use Christina I can get there within an hour."

"That'd be great, thank you Hibiki," Erza said and they hung up.

As preparations and plans were made, Lucy couldn't help but feel a dull ache of worry at what Natsu and Evelyn were going through.

 **MENTIONS OF TORTURE ARE AFTER THIS LINE BREAK. YOU WON'T REALLY MISS ANYTHING IF YOU DECIDE TO SKIP IT.**

Natsu woke up with blurry vision and a pounding headache. Up above him was white and everything around him was white. He sat up and massaged his head. Memories of last night had come into his mind and the anger that he felt at seeing his sister came flooding back. He punched the wall out of frustration and then winced, knowing a bruise was going to form there. From the corner of his eye he saw a warden dressed in white typing something into a holographic keyboard when the two made eye contact, Natsu hissed. Of course it had to be Lahar. He pressed a button and Natsu was about to laugh when a jolt of electricity shot up his spine and made him go limp on his bed trying to catch his breath.

"Natsu Dragneel," Lahar's voice was projected over a speaker built into the wall and camouflaged to be impossible to locate. "We've been waiting for you for a long time."

"I wouldn't be so cocky if I were you," Natsu fired back. "Fairy Tail's planning how to get Evelyn and I back as we speak. We're about to give you hell." In retaliation he was shocked again. This time the voltage seemed higher and he collapsed on the bed.

"We shall see Mr. Dragneel. I wouldn't hold out too much hope. No one escapes from Era's solitary confinement ward; it's even referred to now as the Palace of Perdition. Enjoy your stay." With a cruel smirk, Lahar was gone.

Evelyn had started shaking and screaming in the middle of the night. It was another one of those fucking nightmares that the Era jail wardens had conjured up. "How are you feeling today Ms. Dragneel?" Lahar asked, knowing perfectly well she didn't have the energy to reply. "I hope you had a pleasant sleep." Evelyn glared, but she couldn't do much else.

"Where's my brother?" she croaked. Evelyn hadn't used her voice for much besides screaming, crying, and begging to be left alone. Due to the disuse it was scratchy and not like her voice at all.

"You never saw your brother," Lahar replied calmly. "He's dead remember? We had him publicly executed. I believe we showed you that. Do you need to watch it again?" Her limp black hair flew as she furiously shook her head.

"No, please don't." She was begging and desperate, just how Lahar liked to see her. Seeing someone who had once been strong and now was too weak to move was satisfying. "I'll behave, just don't show that to me again."

"Good girl," Lahar praised. "You've been well-behaved for the past three days so I'll have someone bring you food and water." He chuckled seeing her not responding because she had fallen back asleep. As he walked out he made a mental note to have someone send more nightmares or hallucinations her way. He couldn't have her being _too_ comfortable, after all.

 **Yes I know I'm making Lahar kind of an asshole but I never really liked him so...**


	15. Chapter 15

**Hi guys! So I've been sick for the past couple of days and I thought why do schoolwork when I can be doing fanfiction? So here it is another long chapter. So enjoy! WARNING:SELF-HARM TOWARDS THE END OF THE CHAPTER.**

As the sun was setting Minerva, Yukino, Orga, Rufus, Lyon, Jura, Chelia, and Hibiki were standing around Gray's holographic display looking at building blueprints. "So just to run through the plan one more time," Erza said for what was probably the third time in an hour. "Gray and Hibiki will be in the technology and security room with Lyon and Rufus standing guard outside, only coming in if help is needed. Hibiki you said someone can only hack into the system for a certain amount of time correct?"

Blue Pegasus's master hacker nodded. "There's a bug in the system that no one's bothered to fix because the odds of someone with enough skill to hack in is slim to none. When the system realizes that it's been breached it launches into an automatic lockdown that takes five minutes to complete because all of the files and data have to be transferred to another location. At most, we'll have ten minutes."

"How do you know all of that?" Lucy asked, interested yet disturbed at how easily a criminal knew everything about the Era prison security system.

"He was the one we went to for help when Ultear and Jellal were thrown in jail a couple of years ago," Happy said as he chewed on a fish as he, Charle, Lector, and Frosch were watching what was going on with interest.

"Won't the security guards and wardens realize that someone's broken in?" Charle voiced and Hibiki bit his lip.

"It's hard to say. Of course they'll notice that something's wrong but if we have control over the technology then there won't be anyway for the announcement to be broadcasted since we can override the communication network," Gray answered as Hibiki and Lyon nodded in agreement.

"Regardless, physically fighting won't be a problem," Jura remarked. "We have superior weaponry and we know more about the building and rechnology than the people that work there do."

"They outnumber us fifteen to one," Rufus commented. "But taking them on shouldn't be a problem for the reasons that Jura mentioned."

"So after we get inside," Erza raised her voice above everyone else's so she could go over the plan they had been over three times already. "When they tell us that they have control over the system we will go to the solitary confinement wing and Gray and Hibiki will unlock their cells. We will get them and then we'll go. Carry a stun gun and any other weapons you see fit."

"I think it'd be easier to go around in groups of two or three so we can move more quickly," Minerva stated and there were nods of agreement.

"Rogue, Lucy, Wendy, and I will go find Natsu and Evelyn. The rest of you can cover us and make sure that there are no guards coming towards or moving through the SC wing," Sting proposed.

"Wait, why am I going with you?" Lucy asked. Being part of the group that was participating in the most dangerous part of the job was not what she was planning on doing. "I'm not skilled enough for that."

"Doesn't matter," Sting argued back. "Natsu likes you and this is the perfect way for you to get more experience."

"We won't let you get hurt Lucy," Wendy promised and Lucy whined.

"Sting is right, you should go with them," Erza agreed and that was when Lucy knew her fate was sealed. She might not have been at Fairy Tail for very long, but she knew when Erza said you do something, _you do it_.

"Yes ma'am," Lucy yelped. "So how are we sneaking in?" Chelia chuckled and drew out a keycard.

"We have one of their security cards from when we were breaking out Jellal and Ultear. I want to work with Wendy but I understand why she should go with Sting and Rogue."

"If Wendy doesn't mind I could gladly take her place," Erza offered and Wendy smiled.

"Thank you Erza. I'll go with you then Chelia. We haven't worked together in a while."

"Yukino, Orga, and I can all go as a group," Minerva decided and no one argued with her.

"If you don't mind I'll go with Wendy and Chelia," Jura said. Chelia pouted but Wendy looked glad that there would be someone else with them. "Excellent so now that everything's planned out we can go soon.

"Are Levy and Gajeel not coming with us?" Lucy asked.

"It would take them too long to get here considering we want Natsu and Evelyn out as soon as possible," Gray answered and Lucy nodded, a bit disappointed but she understood the reasoning.

"There are weapons in the basement. Get what you want and then we need to go. Also, if you want to bring the rope and a lighter along you can get that in the garage. We'll meet back here in five minutes." While Erza was barking out commands Lucy was shaking from nerves. "We'll be taking three separate cars based on which group you're in since the cars will need to be parked at different locations."

Lucy walked to the basement with Gray and Erza. While most of the others immediately knew which weapons to get Lucy took her time sorting through guns and looking for any that were similar to what she had used. "Lucy." The blonde looked turned around to look at Rogue who had called her name. "This is a gun similar to the ones you've used before I believe. It has a laser to help with guidance and it's only a stun gun."

"Thank you Rogue." The black-haired teen nodded and she followed him silently up the stairs. When they were all back upstairs they broke into three groups. Lucy was standing with Rogue, Sting and Erza.

"Does everyone have their network communicator?" When everyone nodded Erza spoke again. "Wonderful, remember we have ten minutes to get this done before the security system kicks in. We have to move fast and carefully if we are to avoid detection. That means no going overboard. Understood?" When everyone nodded again she drew in a breath. "Excellent, I wish the best of luck to all of you." With that everyone filed outside and went into their own cars. Despite what Lucy would have expected when Sting jumped into the driver's seat, music began blasting from the speakers in the car. The car was filled with laughter and chatter, almost as if they were on their way to a movie.

"We have the card right?" Lucy questioned and Sting answered her by waving the keycard in her face.

"Right here blondie. We know what we're doing, so just relax." Lucy nodded and tried to follow his advice but it was difficult. If this were to be on the news and somehow they caught wind that she was involved there would be lots of people looking for her, and not all of them would be friendly.

The drive continued until they pulled up to a gate that lead to the back of the prison. Sting held the card up to a scanner and when the light flashed green the gate swung open for them. From the lights that were cast on the building, she could see that the design was modern but it was made of concrete. The chain-link fences and barbed wire glinted in the moonlight.

"I hoped we'd never have to see this place again," Erza muttered and Sting nodded.

"I think a lot of us hoped that too," Rogue agreed. "The license plates are fixed right?"

"Yes, they are," Sting confirmed. Seeing Lucy's confused expression he launched into an explanation. "The license plates are special because they can look like other license plate numbers that aren't related to Fairy Tail at all. It's one version of stealth mode that we use a lot." Lucy nodded in understand and went back to deeply breathing to calm her nerves. "We're here."

The four teenagers got out of the car and closed the doors as quietly as possible. "What are we waiting for?" Lucy whispered.

"We're waiting until Gray and the others tell us they have control over the system," Rogue replied. "Once they do, we have to run. Hibiki uploaded the timer to our network communicators so we have three minutes to get in there, four to grab Evelyn and Natsu, then three to get out and off the perimeter."

"Erza you have the rope right?" Sting asked. In the dark, Lucy could see Erza's silhouette nodding her head.

"Hibiki has three and I have three. Both of us have lighters."

"Why do you bring the rope?" Lucy asked, seriously hoping she wasn't being annoying.

"It's our signature." Lucy hadn't known Sting long but she could hear the smirk in his voice. He fell quiet before speaking again. "The signal's coming in three." He was quiet and then whispered "run."

Getting in to the security room was easier than Gray had been expecting. He couldn't believe that the Era "knights" were so cocky they could leave it virtually unprotected. Not that he was complaining. Whatever would make his life easier the better. Lyon was running next to him and Orga and Hibiki weren't far behind. He knew from the map that was uploaded to the network communicator that the security room was in the center of the building on the top floor, looking out over the atrium where inmates could eat and play cards.

When they got there, two guards were standing outside the doors. Rufus smirked and drew his weapon of choice, a dart that would knock the person unconscious and affect their memory so they wouldn't remember how they got shot. When the two fell silently Gray kicked the door open and Rufus fired his gun again.

"Of course they don't have holographic displays," Gray muttered. "That would be too easy."

"Well they can't afford them," Hibiki responded, sharing Gray's disappointment for not having holographic technology. "Gray do you mind if I deal with the computer since I know it better?" For a moment it looked like Gray was about to argue back but he shrugged realizing time was essential.

"When I get the ok from the others you can." The Blue Pegasus member nodded.

"Minerva, are you in position?" Rufus asked into the communicator. When she confirmed it Lyon asked Jura the same question.

"Both teams are in position," Gray said. "Send the signal to the others and go."

Lucy and the others overheard what was going on through the communicators so when Minerva said that everyone in the solitary confinement wing had been dealt with Lucy visibly relaxed. Chelia said that their group was standing by at the entrance to make sure no one got in. As they had gone over the blueprints trying to find any potential weaknesses, they had found their was one hard-to-find door that was in use only if evacuation was necessary. Nothing had ever triggered that particular protocol so it was forgotten, for the most part. They found it by locating a scanner built into the wall.

"We got through the door and we're making our way to the first and fourth cells now. Sting and Rogue are getting Natsu, Lucy and I are getting Evelyn."

"Perfect. You have four minutes to get there and take them out. Be careful," Lyon said. "Nobody's tried coming up and we haven't seen anything concerning on the security cameras."

As the group of four ran through the segmented hallways, they were horrified at what they saw. Most of the people were shaking, covered in sweat and dried blood, and seemed unconscious. "We just passed the sixth. Only two more before we get to Evelyn's cell. Hibiki, be ready to unlock the door," Sting informed. Collectively, everyone screeched to a halt and stared in horror at the small teenage girl curled up into a corner.

"Sting, Rogue, you need to go," Lucy urged. "We can take care of her, you just focus on getting Natsu." The two cousins nodded, still wide-eyed at the sight before them, but they ran ahead. There was no word from Hibiki or Gray but when the disguised door swung open Erza and Lucy rushed in. When Erza reached down to touch Natsu's adoptive sister to wake her up she screamed.

"Evelyn, Evie, it's me. It's Erza, we're taking you home." The girl continued shaking her head.

"No, this is just another illusion," she murmured. "They told me you were dead, that Fairy Tail got broken up."

"Erza we need to go!" Sting yelled from the hallway. To Erza and Lucy's relief Natsu was leaning on Sting's shoulder, tired but alive.

"She's not coming with us! Evelyn doesn't think we're real!" Lucy yelled back.

"Guys you have a minute to get out if we want to leave undetected!" Gray said through network.

"Knock her out, otherwise we'll be caught!" Sting yelled back.

"We can't do that!" Lucy was horrified that he even suggested it.

"Unfortunately, we don't have any other choice." And with that Erza punched her head, just hard enough to knock her unconscious, and scooped her up.

"Are you ok Natsu?" Lucy asked as Erza gave Evelyn to Rogue to carry.

"Yeah, they didn't have much time to do anything drastic. Just some electrocution." He said it so casually that Lucy wanted to cry for what he and his sister had been through.

"We have to leave now, there are people moving around coming to the SC ward," Hibiki announced. There was swearing from everyone around her and the group sprinted towards the exit. "A guard is coming your way. That's as much as we can tell you."

"Stay right where you are," a guard growled at them.

"I don't think so," Erza growled as she shot him in the knee. The guard cried in pain as he crumpled to the floor. "Run! We only have a minute to get to the car and out!"

Lucy had never ran as fast as she did in that moment. When they were halfway back to the car sirens started whining from inside the compound. When they reached the car, Erza pulled out the rope gang emblems, tossed them on the ground, and set all of them on fire. Sting slid the card through the scanner so they could get out without a hitch. By the time guards got out and saw the burning symbols, they were already outside of the gate. "Will they pursue us?" Lucy asked.

Natsu, who was sitting with his arm around his sister was the one who answered. "No. They're too ashamed and have too much pride to admit that someone broke out. Again. They'll try to cover it up and it'll come back to all of us having at least one million jewels on our heads."

"Were there any familiar people still there?" Rogue asked and Natsu nodded.

"Yeah, that fucker Bora was there. Jose and Brain were there too. Still locked up, but they do it based off of how badly they want you dead right? They were on the fucking third floor! Evie and I were on the first! You know what that means right?" Nobody responded but nobody had to. It meant that the government hated people like Natsu more than those that actually deserved to be there. "Sting, Rogue, are you guys leaving after you drop us off?"

"Yeah we have our car at the mansion. We want to stay but, we'd feel better back at Saber," Sting explained. He pressed a button and the chairs all turned to face each other. "I think the others are leaving too. You'll tell us when Evie wakes up?"

"Of course we will," Natsu said and Sting nodded. "I'd recommend laying low for a while to avoid attention. We don't know how long they'll be looking for us."

"Noted," Rogue acknowledged. "We'll be home in five minutes." The car was silent except for the Evelyn's breathing. Everyone jumped when they heard a whimper.

"That doesn't even sound like her voice," Erza whispered in shock. "And she's so thin." Lucy could see that Natsu was tense. She would have to check on him later to make sure that he was ok. When they pulled up to the curb everyone climbed out. There were hugs and handshakes; Lyon and Gray refused to make eye contact with each other when they shook hands. Shortly after Natsu had given handshakes and high-fives with Sting and Rogue he disappeared with Evelyn into his bedroom. Lucy heard the water start running and she sighed. Erza and Gray went to their own rooms and Lucy found an empty bathroom to shower. When she got out she followed through on her promise and went to check on Natsu.

"Hi Lucy." She turned around to see Happy behind her. "How did the job go?"

"It went well. We got Natsu and Evelyn back. I'm going to check on them right now. Do you want to come?"

"Aye sir!" Happy chirped and the two walked into the room together. Immediately Happy flew onto the bed, where Evelyn was sleep. Without a second thought, he curled up next to her cheek and went to sleep. Lucy sighed, at least someone was peacefully asleep. She softly knocked on the bathroom door.

 **SELF-HARM MENTION BELOW. IT'S SAFE TO LOOK WHEN YOU SEE MORE BOLD, CAPITAL TEXT.**

Natsu?" When there was no reply, Lucy braced herself for what she was going to see. She pushed the door open and saw Natsu, as she expected, hunched over on the floor, a razor blade in one hand, and thin rivers of blood running down his wrists. "Natsu?" This time she shook him gently. Lucy noted that his shirt was thrown across the room and she flushed.

"We got her back," he murmured. "So why do I still feel so pathetic?" Without thinking he dug the blade deeper into his skin causing more blood to well up and spill over his skin and drip onto the floor.

"Natsu put the razor blade down," Lucy said. Gently she covered his hand with hers and pulled it away from his wrist. Without a word she ran a washcloth under the sink with warm water. Natsu winced when she pressed the washcloth to his wrists. "Come on, let's go to bed. You can sleep with me tonight." They walked in silence to Lucy's room, their hands still intertwined.

 **OK YOU'RE GOOD NOW**

"Why are you still punishing yourself for this?" Lucy asked when they were under the blankets. "We have her back. You won't let anyone take her ever again. _You will keep her safe_."

"Then why do I not believe it?" Lucy didn't have an answer.

"Just believe in yourself the way we believe in you." He looked back at her and she felt a pang go through her heart. Those dark eyes that should be playful and happy were clouded with pain.

"Do you believe in me?"

"Yes, I do."


	16. Chapter 16

**Hi guys! I can't believe this story has over 100 followers; it makes me so happy to know that people like my writing and actually want to read it. Anyways here's the next chapter. Enjoy and I'll see you all later!**

Natsu and Lucy woke up to a scream. No words were exchanged as they raced into Natsu's room where his adoptive sister was curled up under the blankets crying, shaking, and she almost seemed to be pleading with someone. Natsu gently shook Evelyn's shoulder.

"Evelyn, Evie, come on. Wake up. You're not in there anymore."

"Get away from me!" she yelled and burrowed under the covers again. Natsu was disturbed at how her voice sounded. Her voice was scratchy and, what was even more disturbing was how hollow and broken it sounded.

"Evelyn, open your eyes," Natsu urged gently and the younger girl shook her head. "Evie, it's me, Natsu. We rescued you last night. You're at Fairy Tail's mansion in Era. Evelyn, you're safe." At the last sentence she maneuvered under the covers so a single eye was all that Natsu and Lucy could see. When she cracked it open there was an audible intake of air.

"Natsu," she whispered. With more tears welling up in her eyes, Evelyn threw back the blankets and launched herself into her brother's arms.

"How could you forget about me?" Happy asked with a pout.

"Happy!" she cried and the blue cat perched on her shoulder and purred. Lucy had tears in her eyes watching the three's reunion. The two siblings were crying and yet Natsu looked like he was at peace. For the first time since Lucy met him, he seemed…calm.

"This isn't a dream Evie," Natsu reassured her softly. "You're back with us."

"Aye!" Happy chimed in. And for the first time in nearly a year, a wide smile broke out on the girl's face. Natsu gave his own bright grin in exchange. "Evie, there's someone I want you to meet. This is Lucy." He stepped out of the way and Lucy tentatively waved. The change in expression on Evelyn's face was automatic.

"You're a Heartfilia," she growled and she launched herself at the blonde who was frozen with shock. Thankfully for Lucy, Natsu grabbed his sister before she could actually attack. The fact that Evelyn could move that quickly after being abused for so long was astonishing. Her hatred for Lucy's father must be deep if she could bring herself to attack her like that. "Why are you here?"

"It's ok Evelyn, she ran away from home. She was one of the ones who helped rescue you last night. She's a loyal member of Fairy Tail," Natsu reassured. Evelyn threw Lucy a scathing, hateful glare before turning her head the other way. "Let me go tell the others; they'll be thrilled!" Natsu crowed and he scrambled out of the room, leaving the two girls in a tense silence.

"I'm glad you're back," Lucy said. "Natsu's been really concerned about you; everyone has." Evelyn just glared and Lucy fell silent.

"Evelyn!" Gray, Wendy, Erza, and Charle shouted as they tumbled through the door, Natsu following them with a smile and tear tracks still visible on his face. Natsu noticed Lucy standing off by herself and he walked over to her.

"We finally have her back," he murmured as if he were still trying to believe it. Lucy followed his gaze to where the others were crowding around her and showering her with hugs. She couldn't help but feel a twinge of envy and anxiety. Envy because no one was ever going to look as hard for her as the others looked for Evelyn. Anxiety because she didn't want to be treated any different since her father had apparently been involved in Evelyn's kidnapping and torture.

"She doesn't like me," Lucy confided softly and Natsu grinned down at her.

"She'll warm up to you eventually. You'll still be at the mansion with me right?" he asked. And Lucy hesitated in her answer.

"If you want me there then sure." Natsu frowned and his forehead wrinkled in confusion.

"Why wouldn't I want you there?"

"Because Evelyn's back, and I've proven my loyalty already. You never seemed to like me being there in the first place so why would you want me to stay?" Maybe one part of Lucy couldn't help thinking like that. For so long she had thought of herself as nothing more than an inconvenience so the idea that someone wanted to live with her was, with no other way to put it, new.

Natsu was perplexed to say the least. Maybe at the beginning of their friendship he hadn't wanted her around, but it wasn't like that anymore. As he had been with her longer, he had genuinely come to enjoy her company.

"No, I don't want you to leave!" He cleared his throat slightly and continued to say more calmly, "besides, it'll be a good opportunity for you and Evelyn to become friends."

"I'll go and make waffles," Lucy offered, tearing her head away from Natsu's gaze and hurrying out the door without a word.

"Gray and I will go and help her," Erza declared.

"We will?" Gray questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes, now lets go." Erza didn't give him a choice since she grabbed his collar and dragged him out the door leaving only Evelyn, Natsu, Wendy, Charle, and Happy in Natsu's room.

"So are you happy to be back?" Happy asked. Charle gave him a withering glance but didn't say anything in response. Evelyn just nodded. They were silent for a moment, not really knowing what to say. Natsu had imagined their reunion. There would be tears, hugs, and then he would go out and buy his little sister anything she wanted, within reason of course. There was no way in hell he was giving her one of his cars if only for the fact that her driving was absolute garbage. But that wasn't what was happening.

It didn't even enter his mind that Evelyn would dislike Lucy, even if her father _did_ play a part in her kidnapping. They were similar in so many ways and he thought about how they could talk about books and stories. Lucy was closer in age to Evelyn than some of the other girls that they normally hung out with so he thought that they could appreciate that.

Evie, listen." Natsu pushed his hands through his hair and exhaled slowly. "I know Jude Heartfilia played some part in your year away from us." Her shiver and the way she clenched her fists didn't go unnoticed. "But please give Lucy a chance." Evelyn tossed her head and sniffed. "Please Evie, for me?"

"Why do you trust her?" Evelyn yelled. "Her father had me captive in the basement of their damn mansion. How could she not have known?"

"Did you ever see her?" Wendy asked softly and Evelyn bit her lip.

"No but I was drugged too. She could've been there and I would have never known!"

"She was genuinely clueless about what her father did behind closed doors. She didn't know anything about this; she didn't know who we were, let alone you," Natsu argued back.

Lucy heard the yells and arguing from Natsu's room and gave a sad smile. She jumped slightly when a hand was placed on her shoulder. "It's ok Lucy. Evelyn will warm up to you." Erza smiled and Lucy gave a nod in return.

"Well it's not like you can blame her," Gray threw in. "I mean your father _was_ the one who captured her so it's not that surprising."

"Gray, enough," Erza snapped. "Forgive him Lucy, Gray isn't always the most tactful person in the world." Gray looked like he was about to protest, but a glare from Erza was enough to shut him up. "Gray, do something useful and tell them that breakfast is ready." Gray nodded and yelled from the hallway that the food was ready.

"Lucy's waffles are the best," Happy told Evelyn as he flew next to her.

"Sometimes she puts out chocolate, whipped cream, and sprinkles. It's heavenly," Natsu reminisced with a sigh. Evelyn just turned her head and sniffed. When they entered the kitchen, Natsu sat himself down next to his sister as Lucy and Erza put all of the plates and food on the table.

"I made some hot chocolate if anybody wants it," Lucy said. "Do you want some Evelyn?" The girl just sneered and shook her head.

"Evie," Natsu warned but Lucy shook her head.

"It's ok Natsu. Don't worry about it." She looked at his adoptive sister again and just smiled before seating herself between Erza and Wendy. Breakfast was silent and the air was tense as everyone ate. Well mostly everyone ate; Evelyn was pushing food around her plate, not really eating anything.

"Aren't you hungry Evie?" Happy asked and the girl shook her head. Without a word she got up from the table and went into Natsu's bedroom.

Evelyn's head was spinning. Waking up disoriented and thinking she was being influenced by hallucinations had been bad enough. Seeing her brother instantly followed by the daughter of the man who had held her captive didn't help. For the life of her she couldn't understand how her brother, one of the most vocal people against the Heartfilia family, was being best friends with Jude Heartfilia's daughter. She noticed that her brother and Lucy walked into her room together from the same door, which just so happened to lead to Lucy's bedroom. She heard that Natsu asked the blonde girl if she was going to be staying in the mansion. The meaning behind it wasn't lost on her; Lucy had been staying in _her_ mansion with _her_ brother. The thought of just being in the same room with Lucy Heartfilia made her skin crawl, so even the thought of _living_ with a Heartfilia made her angry.

Aside from that, just looking at the food made her feel sick. She hadn't eaten properly in a year. As good as the food smelled she couldn't bring herself to eat it. When the door opened she didn't need to see who it was. "What makes you trust her?" she asked her older brother.

"Evelyn, she found us after running away from home. She had a bruise from her father on her cheek and she passed out almost instantaneously. She hates her father just as much as you do." Natsu let that sink in but his sister didn't show any reaction. He sighed before talking again. "Go and talk a bath. When you're done, we're going back home. Your room is untouched." With that he slipped from the room and let his little sister get ready to leave.

After Natsu left, Evelyn did as she was told and went into the bathroom to take a shower. Seeing herself in front of a mirror for the first time in a year made her freeze. Her hair was a mess but she was expecting that. No, what she was morbidly fascinated were the scars that seemed to cover so much of her skin. Thankfully there were none on her face, but long, narrow scars, slightly lighter than her skin tone, seemed to be everywhere: on her arms, legs, stomach, and back. Aside from scars, something else that drew her attention was how light she was. When she left to go look around Crocus she was stockier than Natsu, now she could count her ribs through her skin. Thankfully, she was strong enough to walk over to the bath before her legs started shaking. She filled the tub with boiling hot water, submerged herself, and screamed.

Wendy and Natsu's sensitive ears picked up on Evelyn's scream from the bath and both cousins sighed. "When she gets out, we're going back to Magnolia. I just want to get out of this damn city," Natsu muttered. "Erza can you go check on her?" Natsu sat down and buried his face in his hands.

"What's wrong Natsu?" Happy asked, Lucy and Wendy following behind him.

"She hates me," he said into his hands. The words were muffled but understandable.

"I don't think she does," Wendy comforted him. "Evelyn's probably surprised is all. You basically taught her that the Heartfilias were evil. No offense Lucy," she amended quickly.

"None taken," Lucy answered with a small smile. "I don't blame you, I guess I hated my father too." She looked down and bit her lip. "I'm sorry." Natsu looked at her like she was crazy.

"What are you apologizing for?" he asked, trying to prevent her from crying. There had been enough tears for one day.

"If I hadn't run away then Evelyn wouldn't be angry at you and you wouldn't have gotten arrested and taken to jail," she said softly.

"Lucy if you weren't here we wouldn't have been able to get her back," Gray said as he walked in with the bag he had brought with him. "Give her a few weeks and then she'll warm up to you." Lucy looked down and smiled sadly.

"Hopefully, yeah."

The ride back to Magnolia was quiet. Evelyn, Erza, and Wendy were asleep, Natsu and Gray were on their tablets, and Lucy was looking out the window. Why? She didn't exactly know. There was nothing to look at; nothing but rolling green hills anyway.

A loud swear from Natsu broke the silence and caused Lucy to jump. "What the hell Gray? You can't just fucking pull shit like that!"

"Your fault, guess you shouldn't have jumped on that spike," the other teen taunted back with a smirk. "You're such an idiot Natsu."

"You were the one who threw me you bastard! At least I'm not a pervert who can't keep their fucking clothes on!" Natsu retorted and at the last comment Gray looked down and it was his turn to swear violently.

"What just happened?" Lucy asked, throwing a glance at Erza who, thankfully, was still sleeping.

"The stripper threw me on a spike and decided to applaud himself and blame my death on me," Natsu explained still glaring at Gray who looked very satisfied with himself.

"Well if you're _so good_ at this game you should've saved yourself," Gray smirked.

"Shut the fuck before I throw you out the car," Natsu warned and Gray just laughed. Before he could reply Erza finally woke up.

"Will the two of you morons _shut up_?" They both nodded rapidly and, while they were still glaring at each other, they listened to her command. Lucy cast a glance at Evelyn who seemed to be tense and trembling slightly on the seat. Erza, satisfied at the two's behavior, fell asleep again.

"Are we going to Fairy Tail today?" Lucy asked Natsu when the car went silent again. He shook his head.

"I'll take Evelyn to see Porlyusica but she's going to stay home for a week until she feels up to going," Natsu answered. He cast a glance at his sister who was covered in a thin coat of sweat.

"Should we wake her up?" Lucy asked and Natsu, again, shook his head. Lucy bit her lip and looked at the unconscious girl before following Erza's lead and going to sleep.

When Lucy woke up, Natsu was shaking her gently. "We're back at the mansion. You can go back to sleep if you want when we get inside. Mira's coming over later to cook dinner. You're pretty tired so I didn't want to give you a lot of things to do."

Lucy looked at Evelyn who was still sleeping peacefully in Natsu's arms. "I'll help you take care of her. I want her to trust me, but if you don't want me to stay then I won't." She looked away at the last part as if she were afraid of seeing his response.

"Lucy," she looked at him when she heard how gentle his voice was. "You'll always have a home here. No matter what." Lucy smiled up at him and he grinned down at her. "Come on in; it's been a crazy day." They walked into the house and Natsu made his way to Evelyn's room while Lucy went to her own. She relaxed on the bed and sighed. The house in Era was nice, but she missed her bed at Natsu's house. She wasn't surprised when Natsu came into her room and sat on the bed with her.

"You doing ok?" Lucy asked and Natsu sighed.

"It's going to take a while before she's normal again." Natsu groaned and punched the bed out of anger with himself. "I can't believe I let her get kidnapped like that!"

"Natsu, it's ok. It'll take time but I think Evelyn can get past what happened to her. You'll get better too. You didn't know what would happen to her. And we have her back now. I'm sure she's not angry with you; none of us are." They were silent for a moment as Natsu let Lucy's words sink in. "And besides, you've already punished yourself haven't you?"

"Maybe so," he murmured, "but I don't feel any better." She tugged Natsu's wrist, the one that he had been cutting the previous night and pulled him down on the bed.

"Just sleep for a little bit. You were awake the whole ride back," Lucy advised.

Evelyn woke up to see herself in her bedroom in Natsu's house. Her brother was nowhere to be found. "Evie, you're awake!" Happy exclaimed as he walked into her room.

"Where's Natsu?" she asked, not wanting to leave the comfort and safety of her blankets. Her dreams had been disturbing and troubling. Watching what had happened to her from a third person perspective, in a dream no less, was odd. She remembered what had happened to her in perfect detail. But watching herself get tortured was more than she could bare. She was surprised she hadn't woken up screaming and crying.

"He's with Lucy right now. He said he wanted to talk to her in her bedroom." The implication of the blue cat's words weren't lost on her. Her lip curled at the thought of the two of them together in a romantic way. As happy as she was to see her brother again, she didn't feel like she could forgive him for betraying her like that. _Not that he would know_ , Evelyn thought to herself grimly. She followed Happy out of her room and followed him to, what she assumed, was Lucy's room. When the door slid open, Evelyn was greeted with the sight of the two older teenagers sleeping in the same bed. They were facing each other and both of their faces were peaceful.

"Will you wake up?" Evelyn asked in a very loud voice. Both of them stirred awake, Natsu more quickly than Lucy.

"Hey Evie." Natsu's sharp eyes still had sleep lingering in them as he looked at her. "How are you?" She crossed her arms. Evelyn knew very well that since she was thin and not in great physical shape she didn't look as imposing as she wanted to, but it would get the point across.

"Why are you in a room together with _her_?" she asked with contempt.

"We were just talking Evelyn," Lucy answered through a yawn. "That's all. Did you sleep well?"

"I don't care if Natsu wants you here or not," Evelyn began. Her voice was still raspy and weak but she thought she conveyed her message well. "I will always hate you and your entire family. I'll tolerate you, but don't think for a second I'll ever think about you as family; I won't even think of you as a friend." Lucy's face looked pained but she stayed silent. Evelyn stormed out of the room leaving the two teenagers in silence.


	17. Chapter 17

**Hey guys! This is mostly a filler chapter but it was fun to write. The next one or two chapters won't have anything really exciting, just some slice of life stuff before I figure other things out. So consider this your Christmas/Hanukkah/Holiday present from me and I hope you all have a great winter break. See you guys later!**

Natsu and Lucy were standing in silence after Evelyn had stormed out of the room. Neither of them really knew what to say after her outburst. "I'm sorry for that," Natsu eventually said. "She was never like that."

"She went through a lot this year," Lucy replied. "I'd be concerned if she was the same." Natsu just looked at her with a strange expression on his face. "What?" He just shook his head.

"How can you be so accepting about something like that?" Natsu asked. Lucy just shrugged.

"We were brought up in different ways. If you argued back a lot, which I think you did," she had to stifle a laugh at Natsu's pout, "you didn't get in trouble. I did. That's all." The two fell silent again after that. It was a couple of minutes before Lucy spoke up again. "Maybe I should go live with someone else or buy my own house. I don't want to make her feel worse."

"I need someone here, you can't just leave," he argued back and Lucy smiled sadly.

"I'm sure if you asked Lisanna or Mira to stay they would. Evelyn would probably get along better with them anyway." It wasn't that Lucy was unaffected by Evelyn's words and threats because she was. But leaving the two siblings alone so they could heal together wasn't a bad idea.

"No I need _you_!" Her eyes widened at Natsu's words. "Lucy please don't go." He was begging her at this point, pleading with her to stay because for the past month she had been holding him together. " _Please_. I need you here." Lucy closed here eyes and sighed.

"Maybe a house nearby," she mused out loud, more to herself than anyone else.

"No, you're staying here." She looked up; Natsu had said it more as a command. "Besides chances are some enemies know who you're with and maybe even where you are. You need to stay here so I can keep you safe." Was he exaggerating? Yeah a little bit, but it was a valid argument.

"I can protect myself," she retorted hotly and Natsu just raised an eyebrow.

"Just stay. Please." The fire in his eyes died as he slumped on the ground, back against the bed. Lucy tried to be angry but she couldn't, not when he was looking so defeated.

"Ok, I'll stay," she consented softly as she sat down next to him. The room fell silent again but it was more of a comfortable silence than anything else.

"I should go look for her and see if she's ok," Natsu decided and he stood up with a yawn. "Can you call Porlyusica so she can come over and give Evie and exam?" Lucy nodded and Natsu slipped out of the room.

Natsu was afraid to see his sister again. The joy from having her back, safe and sound, was starting to wear off and anxiety was taking it's place. Lucy had had a valid point, if Evelyn was the same as she had been before she went to Crocus it would be concerning and suspicious. Her hatred for the Heartfilia family must have been deepened considerably to talk so harshly to Lucy, Lucy who would never hurt a person like how her father had hurt his sister. Lucy who was just as eager to get Evelyn back because it meant seeing Natsu happy again. Music was blaring from the opposite side of Evelyn's door and he knocked on it softly.

"Go away!"

"Evie, it's me. Open up." When there was no reply he sighed and let the scanner scan his eyes so the door would open.

"Damn it Natsu I told you to go away," she whined and Natsu looked back at her, leaning against the wall and making it very clear he wasn't going anywhere.

"You're being ridiculous," he said finally. "Lucy wanted to get you back from wherever you were. She tried just as hard as the rest of us did to find you." In response, Evelyn just grabbed a remote lying on her bed and turned the music up louder. When she set it back down Natsu lunged for it and turned the music off. "Listen to me!" He took a deep breath to regain control of his temper.

"I can't even begin to imagine what you went through," Natsu said in a softer voice. "I know that Jude Heartfilia hurt you and I promise I'll make him go through the same pain he put you through. But Lucy isn't her father, she's the farthest thing from him."

Evelyn knew on some level her brother was right. Nobody in the car ride back seemed to find the blonde suspicious so she supposed she shouldn't either. But all the humiliation and suffering she went through because of _her_ father…no. It wouldn't be forgiven immediately like Natsu wanted it to. If it was even forgiven at all.

"Evie she ran away from home because of her father," Natsu continued, taking his sister's silence as a good thing. "I really want you to be friends so just try to be friendly to her. Please." With a sigh she nodded her head.

"I'll try," she muttered. "Now can you please leave?" Natsu looked taken aback at her words but slid out of the room anyway. When Natsu left Evelyn flopped down on her bed, turned her music up, and went to sleep.

When Natsu reached the stairs Happy was waiting for him. "How is she?" Natsu shrugged, not really knowing what to say. "How can I make her like Lucy, Happy. She holds a grudge against everyone in that family. And I can't leave the two of them alone for very long because I don't know what Evie would do."

"She'll get there eventually," Happy attempted to comfort his friend who only smiled down at him sadly.

"Yeah maybe buddy," Natsu replied but there was no enthusiasm in his voice. "I thought bringing her back would make life easier, but it hasn't." Natsu was disappointed to say the least.

"Hey Natsu maybe we could have a party here?" Happy suggested and a flicker of smile passed over Natsu's face.

"When Evie feels better definitely. It's been a while since everyone's come over hasn't it?"

"Aye sir!" Happy cried and Natsu grinned.

"Alright then it's settled. I'll invite everyone over next week."

"Everyone's going to come over?" Evelyn asked that night at dinner after Natsu had told Lucy and his sister about the party he was planning next week. "That sounds fun."

"Maybe I should go buy an outfit for it tomorrow," Lucy mused. "I need new clothes anyway." She threw a glance at Evelyn who was eating very little of her food. "Would you want to come Evelyn?"

"No thanks," she muttered and Lucy looked down at the table before continuing to eat silently. The room fell quiet yet again as a silence thick with tension filled the air. The cold kitchen with the tile floors dark granite countertops seemed even colder than it had in those months after Evelyn was kidnapped. That cold had been broken when Lucy had come, at least when she and Natsu began being civil to each other. It had started raining outside and the pitter-patter of water hitting the roof and windows broke the silence.

"I'm going to go talk to Levy, Erza and the other girls to see if they would want to go shopping tomorrow with me," Lucy said, excusing herself from the table. After clearing away her plate and glass she walked up the stairs to her room. Using the smart wall she pulled up a video chat with the girls at the mansion that they all shared together, a place they called Fairy Hills.

"Hey Lu, how have you been?" Levy said with a grin when she answered the call.

"I've been ok. Natsu told me that he's planning on having a party next week and I wanted to know if you wanted to go shopping for it tomorrow. I desperately need new clothes."

"That sounds like a great idea; do you want me to invite the others?"

"Could you? I think all of us need something to relax after the past week," Lucy replied and Levy nodded in agreement.

"No arguments there."

"I'll go over to Fairy Hills tomorrow and then we can go have lunch and do some shopping tomorrow."

"Sounds good, see you then. By the way did you read the new Zelon book that came out?" Lucy's eyes sparkled and she and Levy had a deep conversation about his new book Daybreak.

The next day Lucy rolled out of bed and padded down the hallway to the kitchen. Natsu was already up and was sipping a mug of coffee, if she had to guess from the bitter scent in the air. "Morning," he greeted. "How did you sleep?"

"Pretty well. It feels nice to finally relax after the craziness of the past couple days," Lucy replied with a laugh. Natsu nodded his agreement and took another sip of coffee. "I'm going out with Levy and the girls today for some shopping. I'll be with Erza so there's no need for you to worry."

"That's relieving to hear, are you going to Fairy Hills to meet them?" When Lucy nodded Natsu said "I'll drive you then. It's a house in the city so there's no way you're walking."

"Thanks. What do we have to eat?" Lucy asked as she wandered over to the fridge to open the door.

"I don't know actually, Mira stopped by last night after everyone had gone to sleep and restocked so I don't know what's in there," he said and he looked over her shoulder when the blast of cold air hit them. "Luce could you make waffles?"

"Luce?"

"Yeah, it's your new nickname," Natsu responded. "Can you make waffles?"

"Natsu, I need to meet the girls in an hour and a half, I don't have time to make waffles," Lucy sighed.

"Why not?" Natsu was acting like a child and he knew it, but messing with her was so much fun.

"Because I need to get dressed and do my hair and makeup. That takes a while you know," she responded trying to keep her temper in check.

"Why do you need that stuff, you look good enough without makeup," he grumbled. Lucy blushed furiously but Natsu ignored it. "So can you please make waffles?"

"You're a child," Lucy grumbled but she started pulling out the ingredients and the waffle maker.

"Actually Princess I'm pretty sure I'm older than you." Lucy was about to respond but Evelyn walked into the kitchen.

"Good morning Evie," Natsu beamed at his younger sister who gave a small smile back. "You're just in time, Luce is making waffles." The new nickname wasn't lost on his younger sister. Evelyn internally recoiled at affectionate name and she scowled.

"Do you want waffles Evelyn?" Lucy asked as she started beating the batter.

"No thanks," the black-haired girl muttered. "I'm not that hungry."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes!" Evelyn snapped and Lucy huffed then turned back to her work.

"Evelyn," Natsu warned and she glared at him and plopped herself down on a barstool.

"I'll just have cereal, you don't need to make anything for me."

"It's ok Luce, that just means more for me!" Natsu attempted to cheer Lucy up because he knew she was making an effort to be nice despite his younger sister's treatment. "Or maybe you could save some for tomorrow," he looked at her hopefully and Lucy rolled her eyes.

"You're ridiculous," was all she said before pouring the batter into the waffle maker. "Both of us know that you're going to eat all of them today because you're a bottomless pit." Lucy didn't have to look to know that Natsu was pouting.

"Am not!" he defended like a little kid would disagree with something and could think of no comeback. Natsu glanced at his sister who was glaring back at him. "Are you sure you don't want any waffles?"

"Yes! Will you stop asking me?"

"Evelyn-."

"Stop Natsu, just leave her alone," Lucy advised and he looked pained and upset but he listened nonetheless. He kept peering over Lucy's shoulder to see her progress on the waffles and it only took a couple more times before she had a tick mark in her forehead. "Would you stop?" she asked, generally annoyed with him.

"You guys ruin all my fun," Natsu whined but he stopped peering over his shoulder, which Lucy was thankful for. When the last of the batter was used and the waffles were steaming on the serving plate Lucy grabbed a bottle of strawberry syrup and whipped cream.

"Do you want anything to put on it Natsu?" Lucy called looking back at pinkette sitting at the island.

"Tabasco sauce would be great," he replied and the blonde rolled her eyes. He was the only one she knew who put sriracha or Tabasco sauce on everything possible.

"I don't know why you ruin my waffles by putting Tabasco sauce on them but whatever makes you happy," Lucy said as she put the bottle of red sauce and a plate with five waffles in front of him. "Can you do the dishes when you're done eating? I won't have enough time to clean them this morning." Natsu nodded seeing as he had a mouth full of waffles. Breakfast was as silent as dinner was. No one talked but Evelyn threw dark looks at both her brother and Lucy.

When her waffles were eaten Lucy went upstairs leaving both siblings in silence. It didn't take a genius to sense the tension that was between the two. Both of them were too stubborn to back down and talk things through; their pride wouldn't allow it.

Thirty minutes later Natsu and Lucy were chattering idly in the car while they drove to the Fairy Hills mansion where Erza, Mira, Lisanna, Juvia, and Cana lived. Wendy had been offered their spare room but Porlyusica had taken Wendy with her so she could study more medicine and healing with her. And something about how the older girls would corrupt her. Needless to say Charle had firmly agreed. As the countryside flew by and the Magnolia skyline was on the horizon, Lucy found herself apologizing.

"What are you apologizing for? You haven't done anything," Natsu had protested but she had talked over him anyway, talking about how she felt bad because she was damaging his relationship with his sister. "Luce, she would've been like this even if you hadn't been living with me. She's angrier at the fact that I even let you join."

"Did you tell her I was forced into it?" Lucy asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No, but it wouldn't change anything," he huffed. Lucy opened her mouth but Natsu knew exactly what she was going to say. "You're going back to your father when hell freezes over and I'm pretty sure that won't be for a long time." Lucy giggled at his statement.

"Thank you again, for everything." Natsu waved her gratitude off.

"You don't have to thank me for that stuff anymore." The two continued to talk before the car, whose GPS was working well today, pulled to a stop in front of a traditional looking house painted grey with white trim and had large windows.

"I thought the house would be... _fancier_ ," Lucy commented as she and Natsu got out of the car.

"You haven't seen the backyard," he chuckled and Lucy looked at him curiously. "C'mon I'll walk you up to the door and say hi to everyone. I tried coming over by myself once but I got kicked out by Erza," Natsu reminisced and Lucy laughed.

"Why am I not surprised?" she replied as they walked up to the door together. Natsu knocked and they heard a dog barking from inside.

"Plue be quiet!" Erza yelled as she came to the door. The dog was faster because he sprinted out of the house and nearly knocked Lucy over with the force of the jump. "Plue, no! I'm sorry, he gets too excited when someone comes over." Erza turned back around to call for Levy and the others before facing them again.

"How's Evelyn doing?" Erza asked and the two tensed. "Not well?"

"Not for the reasons you're thinking of, no," Lucy replied. "I'll tell you more later. If Natsu's ok with it that is." She looked at Natsu expectantly and when he shrugged Lucy knew she had the ok to tell them what had happened in the past twenty-four hours.

"Hey Lu!" Levy greeted with a broad smile as she hugged the taller blonde. "Hey Natsu."

"Well I'll go now. See ya later Luce," he called as he went back to the car.

"Luce?" Levy asked with a sly smile and Lucy blushed.

"Shut up! It's just a nickname, it doesn't mean anything," Lucy snapped and Erza laughed.

"That will be determined. Come on in, we're having lunch and then we can go shopping." Erza held the door open as the other girls and Plue walked back into the house.

"Oh this is nice," Lucy commented as she took in the foyer of the mansion. The interior was bright due to the large windows that allowed the morning sun to stream in. The floors were nearly white and Lucy saw that there was a staircase to the right and a sitting room to the left. As Erza lead them down a hallway to the kitchen, Plue kept on licking Lucy's hands, jumping, and whining at her.

"If he gets too annoying we can put him away," Levy said and Lucy frantically shook her head.

"No, he's adorable. You said his name is Plue?"

"Yeah, Lisanna found him one night when she was coming back from a mission. She's always had a way with animals so she brought him here four years ago. We believe he's five now," Mirajane said as she came down the stairs and joined the group. "Speaking of, she'll be down soon. She's just getting out of the shower right now."

"Oh Mira guess what?" Levy asked excitedly and Lucy groaned.

"Oh what happened?"

"Natsu has a nickname for Lucy!" she exclaimed and Mira squealed in delight. "He calls her Luce now."

"Who's calling Lucy 'Luce'? Cana asked as she walked downstairs, Lisanna on her heels.

"Natsu is!" Mirajane shrieked. "You two are so cute together!" Cana was laughing but Lisanna looked a little bit glum from the news. Lucy's face turned an even darker shade of red and the sly smiles and jokes only stopped when Erza put her arm around Lucy's shoulder.

"Let's have lunch and then we can go shopping," she ordered and no one argued. The kitchen, Lucy noticed, was similar to Natsu's. Both kitchens had stainless steel appliances. Both kitchens had a granite island. There were bar stools too, but these were placed behind the counter where the sink and dishwasher were. Beyond that were some tables and chairs that showed the backyard and Lucy could see why Natsu said it was fancy. There was a pool with a hot tub elevated at the far end. There were some white couches with bright blue pillows placed under a white covering. On the patio was a grill and another small table. The rest of the yard was filled with bright green grass and Lucy could make out some dog toys scattered throughout the area. She let out a low whistle.

"Impressed?" Cana asked and Lucy nodded.

"Natsu said your backyard was amazing," Lucy recalled.

"His is better though," Levy muttered and Lucy had to agree. "The faster we eat the faster we can leave," Erza reminded and everyone raided the refrigerator and pantry to throw together a lunch to keep up with Erza's time schedule.


	18. Chapter 18

**Hey guys! So another really fast update. This one's somewhat shorter than the others but only by like 800 words. Lots of nalu moments in this one too. Anyways, I hope you enjoy and have a great New Years!**

"What types of parties does Natsu usually throw?" Lucy asked as she and the girls were walking down the streets of downtown Magnolia.

"Normally there's a lot of fighting, drinking, playing games, and swimming," Levy listed off. "Definitely bring a swimsuit and we'll need to find a dress that you look cute in."

"Has Natsu taken you shopping before?" Erza asked and Lucy shook her head.

"I got a lot of my clothes from Mira. Natsu asked her to give me her clothes that don't fit anymore," Lucy responded and Cana rolled her eyes.

"For a guy that's rich he doesn't really spend a lot of money," she observed.

"That's not a bad thing," Lisanna defended and the brunette shrugged.

"All I'm saying is that if I was him I'd be spending a lot of money on a pretty girl living in my house." Lucy turned bright red at Cana's insinuation. Mira and Levy were laughing and even Erza had a smile on her face. Lisanna was glaring at the ground but nobody called her out on it.

"That's not how things are!" Lucy screeched causing several passersby to look at her strangely.

"C'mon, there's a Heart Kruz shop around the corner. If we don't find anything there we can look in more stores," Lisanna chimed in, bringing the conversation away from Natsu and Lucy's potential to date. Lucy had heard of Hearts Kruz before, anyone who didn't must've lived under a rock, but she was never allowed to wear their clothes because they 'weren't proper for a girl of her standing.' At least that's what her father had said on the numerous times she had asked him for their clothes.

When the girls entered the store, Levy and Mirajane dragged her off to go look at clothes. But the method the girls were using were different than what she expected. At the back of the store, where the changing rooms were, were smart walls that customers were standing in front of to see clothes. "So lets see here," Mira said as she hit the start button.

"The technology they use lets you put in what you look like and it gives you a basic idea of what to look for," Levy narrated as Mira kept pressing buttons. "You don't have to, but it makes everything really easy." Lucy nodded processing everything.

"Levy," Mira called, turning back around to face them. "Can you get dresses in white, red, and black?"

"Sure thing," Levy answered and she shot off to go find the clothes Mira told her to get.

"Do you have money Lucy?" Mira asked and Lucy nodded her head.

"Natsu's letting me use his, yeah."

"Aw that's so sweet," she cooed and Lucy rolled her eyes even while her cheeks turned red.

"I'm back," Levy announced and they turned around to see Levy carrying her weight in dresses. "Whatever you try on you have to show us, ok?"

"Yeah, sure," Lucy complied and the two let the changing room door slide shut. Once she had the room to herself she allowed her jaw to drop. How many dresses did Levy get? Feeling overwhelmed, Lucy grabbed a one-sleeved red dress that didn't even reach mid-thigh. Reluctantly she slid the dress over her head and admired herself in the mirror. It did look good, she had to admit.

"What do you think about this one?" she asked and both girls beamed.

"It looks so pretty!" Levy gushed.

"Red does look good on you Lucy, you should wear it more often," Mira enthused and Lucy flushed slightly. "Definitely don't put this one away. Try on something black next."

Just looking at the black dress Lucy randomly selected from the hook made her blush. It was low cut and besides from the thin piece of black fabric that connected the top part to the skirt there was nothing covering the front of her stomach. There were sleeves, but they slid off her shoulders down to her elbows.

"Do you like this one?" she asked and both girls with her grinned.

After spending an hour and a half at the Hearts Kruz store, the group finally left. Lucy had five new dresses and some new swimsuits in the large bag she was carrying. According to Mira they were going shoe shopping next and then, if she wanted to, they were going to buy makeup. When Lucy saw how much Erza bought she felt better about spending four thousand jewels on clothes. Erza had to be carrying at least five bags and somehow she was managing to carry them all by herself. When others asked for help she waved them off and set an eager pace for the shoe store.

"Erza what did you buy?" Lucy asked as she was still taking in the amount of clothes she bought.

"A little bit of everything," she answered casually.

"A little bit my ass," Cana muttered. "She never has restraint when it comes to two things: strawberry cake and clothes." There was some giggling from the group and no one disagreed.

"If you're done," Erza said, a tick mark appearing on her forehead, "then I suggest we get moving so we can finish shopping."

The sun was starting to sink in the sky when the girls got back to Fairy Hills. Erza had bought almost five bags in every store they went into and Lucy was still trying to figure out how she managed to buy so much. "If you think this is a lot, you should see how much she takes on jobs and trips," Levy giggled.

"Lucy do you have a ride home?" Erza asked.

"I'm going to have Natsu pick me up," Lucy answered and Erza nodded her head. "Hey Mira?" The white-haired girl turned around to raise an eyebrow. "Do you think Evelyn will like the stuff I bought her?" Mira smiled and nodded.

"She will. It was nice of you to buy her something," Mira commented.

"I want to be friends with her and Natsu said buying her something would be nice. I just hope she'll take it." The idea had been hers. On the way to the Fairy Hills mansion she had asked Natsu if she could buy Evelyn anything and he had replied by saying makeup, shoes, and stuffed animals. Especially stuffed animals. If Natsu was there when she gave them to her, she had to take them whether she wanted to or not because Natsu wouldn't just let her reject the gift. Lucy winced. She hoped Natsu didn't mind that she spent 30000 jewels when she was shopping today. When they pulled up to the gray and white house all the girls climbed out of the car and carried all their bags in with them. Inside, Plue was running around poking his nose into every bag and slobbering over everything that wasn't in a box.

"Plue no!" Cana sighed as she dragged the large white dog out of the mess of bags on the middle of the floor. "Did you call Natsu?"

"Yeah I sent him a text. He said he'll be here soon. So, can I have a tour of the rest of the house?" After debating over who would be the best guide, Lucy went with Levy and she showed her all the rooms in the house.

"Do all of these houses have movie theaters?" Lucy asked in awe as Levy lead her away from the thick carpeted room that had a large flat-screen TV and a surround sound system filled with reclining chairs and a popcorn machine.

"Only the awesome ones do," Levy said with a wink. Lucy jumped when Lisanna's voice came over the intercom saying that Natsu was there. Levy and Lucy took their time going back down to the foyer talking about nothing in particular.

"Did you have a good time?" Natsu asked the two girls.

"I got kidnapped but it was ok," Lucy shrugged nonchalantly and Natsu's eyes narrowed.

Lisanna elbowed him. "Stop that, you know she's kidding." Natsu pursed his lips and rolled his eyes.

"Do you have your stuff Luce?" When Lucy went to pick up her bags Natsu beat her to it.

"You don't have to do that you know," Lucy pointed out.

"What if I want to?" he countered and there was a giggle from the sitting room.

"Take care lovebirds, we'll see you at the party," Cana called and both Lucy and Natsu turned red.

"We're not lovebirds Cana stop saying stupid stuff!" Natsu yelled and with that he turned around and left. Still blushing Lucy hurried after him.

"Thank you for everything today! Bye!" She practically ran to catch up with her friend. Now that she thought about it, he was her _best_ friend. When the car was driving Lucy was staring up through the clear roof of the car at the stars. It was something Natsu had shown her, that there was a setting that made the top of the car transparent so you could see through it.

"You've been quiet Luce," Natsu observed and Lucy hummed in response.

"I've just been thinking about things," she replied vaguely.

"Like what?" She stayed silent for a moment before replying.

"You're my best friend, you know that right?" His breath caught in his throat and he smiled.

"I know. Thank you, for everything you've done. You've helped me more than you realize." Both of them lowered their heads and blushed at the leather seats in the car. Lucy reclined in the seat again to look out at the stars. "Tell me about the stars Luce." It was a command, but it wasn't a harsh one. Natsu knew that the stars meant a lot to Lucy, that they reminded her of her mother and of a better time in her life. With a soft smile she began telling the stories of the constellations. Sometimes she would falter and Natsu would look over to see tears glistening in her eyes. When she stopped, he would reach over and squeeze her hand, to remind her that she wasn't alone anymore and she would squeeze his hand back hard. To remind herself that this was real, that this wasn't a dream. That there were people who actually cared about her.

When they reach the house Natsu gently grabbed her hand and lead her into the house. She expected to go to their rooms but they didn't. Instead he pulled her to a wall that appeared to be just that, a wall. "Wait, you're going to like this," he murmured. He pressed at a certain point and a panel opened. He tugged her up a hidden flight of stairs that lead to the flat ceiling.

"Natsu," she breathed. "This is beautiful."

"I had this put in when I just needed to breathe, away from everyone you know? I haven't needed to come up here but I thought you'd enjoy it." Lucy surprised herself when she threw her arms around him and buried her face in his shoulder.

"Thank you, thank you so much." He seemed startled but he reciprocated the embrace. Lucy let herself relax in his arms. She felt safe. She felt whole. "I have some things for Evelyn," she said after what seemed like several minutes. "I want to give them to her before she goes to sleep." Surprisingly Natsu shook his head.

"Let's stay out here for a little more." Lucy complied and they held each other for what seemed like forever.

The week went pretty quickly. Evelyn had accepted Lucy's gifts, no sign of gratitude, but Natsu said the stuffed animal was on her bed. The day of the party had arrived and Lucy was frantically digging through her closet trying to figure out what dress to wear. She had told Levy to come over so she had. The small bluenette was wearing a simple orange halter dress and her hair was down. "That looks nice Lev," Lucy complimented and her other best friend smiled.

"Thanks, now lets figure out which dress you can wear." While Levy was sifting through dresses Lucy told Levy everything that happened after Natsu picked her up. "Lu! We need to make you look good then!"

"Levy it's not like that!"

"Sure Lu, whatever you say." Lucy didn't need to see Levy's face to know that she rolled her eyes.

"Hey Levy, did Lisanna and Natsu ever date?" Levy stopped what she was doing and turned around.

"Why, jealous?"

"No way just answer my question!"

"Fine," Levy sighed as she pulled the red, one-sleeved dress of a hanger. "It seemed like they were going to for a while. Lisanna still has feelings for him, but then when Evelyn disappeared Natsu changed. He became more…reserved, more cold."

"Luce are you almost ready?" Natsu yelled from the other side of the door.

"Not particularly!" she yelled back. "Go jump in the pool!" Natsu laughed before they heard his retreating footsteps.

"He's been different ever since you got here. A good different though. Definitely wear this." She handed Lucy the red dress she had pulled out of the closet earlier. "We'll curl your hair and I'll do your makeup."

"Thanks Lev, you're a lifesaver. One day you need to teach me how to do this."

"You've never had to do this before?"

"No, I've always had someone do it for me." Lucy blushed at the confession. "I know it sounds ridiculous." A couple minutes later Levy was done with everything.

"Right on time!" she chirped. "People will be arriving any minute. Natsu's going to pass out when he sees you!"

 **So it's established that Natsu and Lucy are really good friends and this kind of shows how they comfort each other and how they're relationship is stronger than it was when they first met. Anyways see you guys later!**


	19. Chapter 19

**Happy new year! Sorry this was a while before updating again, I've been busy with gymnastics and school. Anyways, enjoy.**

People were starting to pull up to Natsu's mansion when Lucy and Levy made their way down to the first floor. Champagne flutes and glasses of wine were laid out on the bar and in the kitchen were platters of crackers, cheese, fruit, and other small appetizers and Lucy could smell something cooking outside. The pool was changing different colors, lights were hung up in the trees, and a fire was burning to life in the fireplace inside. "This looks amazing Natsu!" Lucy beamed when she found her friend sipping a glass of wine.

"I can't take much credit, Mirajane and Levy helped a lot," he grinned sheepishly and then swiped a champagne glass off of the bar. "Want a drink?"

"Don't mind if I do," Lucy took the glass and she and Natsu clinked their glasses together.

"Your dress looks really nice by the way," he complimented and Lucy smiled. Given the opportunity Lucy noticed that Natsu was wearing a button down black shirt and black pants.

"Thanks, I can't say I picked it out though. Mira and Levy got me to try on at least a quarter of the dresses in the Hearts Kruz store," she admitted and Natsu smiled.

"Girls and shopping are ridiculous," he scoffed lightheartedly. "Erza dragged me into downtown Magnolia once and I was bored fifteen minutes in."

"How long did you stay out?"

"Three hours. Just thinking about it makes my feet hurt," he grumbled. Lucy giggled as Natsu remembered the memory with a sour look on his face. "I'd rather be on a ride without medicine than go shopping with her again."

"I haven't actually seen you with motion sickness," Lucy noticed. "Is it only you?"

"No, it's a genetic thing. Everyone in my family has it. Wendy was a lifesaver when she came up with the troia medicine for us," Natsu explained.

"So who's coming to this party?"

"Mostly everyone from Fairy Tail was invited. Makarov might show up but I doubt it. Unless he wants to meet you," he added as an afterthought. Lucy paled and Natsu laughed at her reaction.

"Don't worry, he doesn't bite," Natsu reassured her.

"Shouldn't you be entertaining your guests?" Lucy asked as she heard chatter from down the hall.

"Probably, but they can entertain themselves for a while. This week has been…taxing to say the least. I want a little more peace and quiet before I have to go interact with everyone else." Natsu sighed and leaned his head back against the wall. "I feel so tired."

"Let's go up to the roof," Lucy suggested and Natsu didn't decline. When the two were up breathing in the cold air Lucy saw Natsu visibly relax. "Is it because of Evelyn?"

"Partially," Natsu answered as he lay down on the roof. "I get the feeling she hates me now. She's barely talked to me at all over the past week. I'm concerned for her and I want to help, but I can't if she doesn't let me in." Lucy stayed quiet; she didn't want to say that that was how Natsu had acted from the first day they met.

"Give her time," Lucy advised and the author in her winced at how cliché it sounded. "You surprised her; I think she was expecting to come back and find that nothing had changed. She needs to get used to what happened."

"How do you always know what to say?" Natsu asked. Lucy just shrugged with a blush on her face.

"Are you ready to go back down?" Natsu sighed and stood up.

"As ready as I'll ever be."

"You can stay in my room tonight if you want," Lucy offered and he perked up.

"You're the best Luce!" he crowed and he sprinted down the stairs, Lucy following after him, making sure that the door slid closed when she left.

"Lucy you look so pretty!" Mirajane exclaimed as she grabbed something to drink from the bar. "I'm glad you're wearing that dress; it looks amazing on you."

"Thank you! You look amazing too. Is Lisanna here?"

"Yeah she is, I think she went looking for Natsu," Mirajane answered and Lucy nodded. "Are you going to go in the pool later?"

"Definitely, is it heated?"

"Luce I'm offended you even had to ask," Natsu teased as he walked towards them. "Of course it's heated. How are you Mira?"

"Pretty well thank you. Is Evelyn going to come down or is she staying up in her room?"

"She said she'll be down soon; she's excited to see everyone again. I just hope it's not too overwhelming," Natsu confided and both Mirajane and Lucy nodded.

"That makes sense she hasn't been in a room with this many people in a long time," Mira reasoned. "Have you seen Lisanna, I thought she was supposed to come find you?" Natsu tilted his head.

"No, I haven't seen her." Natsu tried to remember if he had seen a teenage girl with short white hair but his mind was drawing a blank. "No sorry Mira, I don't remember seeing her."

"It's ok," Mira said with a sigh. "She'll show up."

"Hey Flame Brain," Gray called and waved.

"Hey Ice Princess, what's up?" Natsu replied with a laugh. Lucy noticed Juvia peeking at Gray from behind a wall and Lucy decided to go and say hi. She had never really had a chance to talk with her since they were both busy doing different things.

"Hi Juvia," Lucy greeted and the bluenette smiled at her.

"Hello Lucy how are you doing today?" she replied still sneaking glimpses of Gray every couple of seconds.

"Good, how has your week been?" Lucy wanted to keep the conversation going but Juvia seemed to have a short attention span.

"Difficult. Natsu put me in charge of trying to find out what was going on at the Akane Resort and Spa but there hasn't been a breakthrough yet." Juvia sighed. "I'm going there next week with Gray to see if we can find anything else."

"Where are you going with that stripper?" a rough voice asked. Juvia whirled around to see Gajeel standing behind her.

"Just to the Akane Resort for that investigation Natsu wants me to conduct," Juvia explained and he scowled. "What's wrong?"

"Just make sure he doesn't go skinnydipping," he muttered and stalked off.

"Um, is he ok?" Lucy asked and Juvia sighed.

"Yes, he's just overprotective. We met when I was still a member of Phantom Lord and before he went to Fairy Tail." That explained the overprotectiveness then. Shortly after Gajeel left a black cat with a scar by his left eye wandered over to us.

"Hello Lily how are you?" Juvia greeted the Exceed.

"Pretty well," he replied. "Hello Lucy."

"Hi Lily." Lucy hadn't talked with Lily much seeing as she and Gajeel were never around each other a lot of the time, but from what she could tell, he was polite but often blunt and to the point. "Are you looking for something?"

"Actually yes, have you seen Natsu anywhere?"

"He was standing with Gray a couple of minutes ago by the bar. He should still be over there."

"Thank you." And with that the black cat walked off.

"Is he always like that?" Lucy asked Juvia and the bluenette nodded.

"He is but he's nice, not nearly as cynical as Charle can be," Juvia confided and Lucy silently agreed. No one was more critical than Charle when she was annoyed. Lucy had learned that the hard way. The white Exceed had been on her case from the moment she joined Fairy Tail. But gradually Charle had warmed up to her, or as much as Charle ever warmed up to people anyway, seeing as how the only person she seemed to like was Wendy. Lucy looked around again as she ran out of things to talk about with Juvia. The two didn't really have anything in common. All she knew about the blue-haired teen was that she owned her own house, right near the Fairy Hills mansion, thanks to the money that she had taken from Phantom Lord. They hadn't been happy about it but there wasn't anything they could do without instigating a gang war.

Cheers and shrieks went up and Lucy assumed Evelyn had made her appearance. From across the room, the two girls made eye contact. No doubt, before she had been kidnapped the white dress would have looked stunning on her. But now, her dress seemed to swallow her and the white made her look like a ghost. Natsu's sister glared at her and Lucy ducked her head. "Does Evelyn not like you?" Juvia asked and Lucy sighed.

"No she doesn't. I think it's because she hates my father and she thinks I'm exactly like him. It's made living here difficult for both Natsu and me."

"Evelyn, it's great to see you again!" Juvia exclaimed as she swept the girl into a hug.

"It's good to see you too Juvia," Evelyn said enthusiastically, but to Lucy it sounded forced. "Can you let me go though? I need to breathe." Juvia loosened her hold on the girl. Evelyn looked away and saw Mirajane waving at her.

"I'll see you later," Evelyn called as she went to go talk to the Strauss sisters, Lisanna making an appearance at her older sister's side.

"To be honest, I don't think either of them like me," Lucy admitted and Juvia patted the blonde's arm.

"I'm sure everything will work out in the end." Lucy nodded and looked away.

"Yeah, I hope so."

A few hours later the sun had gone down and everyone had moved outside. The silent night air was broken by music, talking, and laughter, the darkness by lanterns that swung in the barely perceptible breeze. Some people were in the pool and splashing each other while others lounged at tables with food and a multitude of drinks. Lucy was off sitting with Levy in the cool grass when Natsu came to stand over them. "Why are you sitting back _here_ when the party's over there?" he asked pointing to the clusters of people surrounding the perimeter of the pool.

"It's quieter to talk over here," Lucy replied and he sat down next to her.

"Talking about anything good?"

"Nothing you would find interesting. Do you even know how to read for fun?" Lucy asked and Natsu pouted.

"Of course I do! I just don't." The three fell quiet for a moment before Natsu grinned. "Hey Luce, I have an idea."

"Oh?" Lucy didn't like the tone of voice he was using. It was too cheerful and way too suspicious. "Natsu what are you planning?" She became wary when she saw the innocent grin on his face. Without any words he scooped her up, ran, and jumped into the pool with her.

"Natsu Dragneel I'm going to kill you!" Lucy yelled and everyone, except for two people laughed.

"Hey Natsu, is it ok if I move into Fairy Hills for a while?" Evelyn asked as people were leaving his mansion to go home.

"Why?" he raised an eyebrow, already not liking where this was going.

"Because I want to live there for now. We'll still see each other at HQ and it's not like I won't be unprotected." Lucy was about to walk upstairs when she heard the two sibling's voices.

"For how long?" Natsu's voice was tight with emotion.

"Until I feel like coming back. It's not like you need me here anyway, not when you have _her_ around." Lucy bit her lip and looked at the floor. If it weren't for her, Natsu wouldn't have to be in that situation.

"Evie don't be ridiculous," Natsu snapped. "I just got you back! You're staying and you two better learn to get along. She's been nothing but nice to you since you've gotten here. What more do I need to tell you?"

"Natsu it might not be a bad idea," Erza suggested. "It would give her time to get used to what changed over the past year."

"Don't start with me Erza," Natsu warned. "This is ridiculous and you know it!"

"Ridiculous as it might be, you should listen to your sister Natsu," Erza lectured with a stern glare.

"She's right Natsu," Lucy said as she stepped out of the shadows and into the room. "Giving her a week or two to be around a place that hasn't changed as much might be comforting."

"Not you too Lucy," he whined and crossed his arms. "This whole argument is stupid. Go to Fairy Hills see if I care." And with that he stormed up the stairs and Lucy sighed.

"Have a good night you guys," Lucy said. "I'll try to get him to calm down."

"Good night to you too Lucy," Erza nodded as she and the other girls walked out of the mansion, leaving Lucy alone in the now silent house. Sighing she flicked off the lights and went to find Natsu somewhere in the upstairs part of the house.

"Natsu?" she rapped softly on the door and it glided open. Natsu was sitting cross-legged on his bed, his head buried in his hands. "Hey are you ok?"

"My sister that we got back a week ago left again because she's too stubborn to look past her beliefs. Do you _think_ I'm ok?" Lucy got the point; it was a stupid question. He sighed. "Did I do something wrong?"

"No, you didn't. I've told you, she just needs time to adjust. Maybe meeting with her at Fairy Hills would be better because it wouldn't be as personal?" Natsu grunted his response. The two sat quietly for a few moments. "I had a really fun time tonight." Lucy winced at how that sounded. It reminded her of the romantic books she'd read before a first kiss or a confession. If he knew how that had sounded he didn't say anything, choosing instead to stretch and yawn. "I'm going to bed now."

"Good night Luce," he got up and hugged her before waving his hand at her to get out. She sniffed at the dismissal but left nonetheless.


	20. Chapter 20

**Hey guys! So this is just kind of something I wrote on a whim and I will be elaborating more on this so don't freak out if it ends on a cliffhanger. Anyways enjoy!**

Gray sighed as one of Fairy Tails' cars drove itself down the highway to southern Fiore, where the Akane Resort and Casino was located. Away from the large cities, the rest of Fiore was mostly rural. So currently they were passing nothing but wealthy estates, farms, and research facilities. How he had gotten roped into going to Akane with Juvia was unknown to him but he had a sneaking suspicion it had something to do with a certain teen obsessed with piercings and jazz music talking to Natsu and convincing him to send someone along. To Mirajane's delight Natsu had chosen Gray to go with her. Maybe it was to get rid of him for a while but he also had a feeling that Mirajane might have voiced her opinion and Natsu had agreed. Either way, he wasn't thrilled to be here.

Juvia had been gushing and chattering nonstop since the car had left Magnolia behind and Gray just wanted her to shut up. He had woken up two hours before he normally did so they could get to Akane by noon and he was dying of boredom while being driven insane from Juvia's constant talking.

"What are we doing once we get there?" Gray interrupted her stream of talking and she instantly grew serious.

"We're checking in and we're going to be pretending to be a couple and Natsu managed to get us access to all the facilities so there's no limit to what buildings we can and cannot be in," she explained and Gray nodded. Pretending to be dating her though… It's not that he didn't like Juvia, because he did, really. She was kind and she could be really smart if her head wasn't in the clouds. But she had been obsessing over him ever since he invited her to join Fairy Tail after Phantom Lord had attacked them two years ago. "You don't mind hacking and doing some snooping do you?" Gray smiled and shook his head.

"That sounds fine. Hopefully we can be out of here in two or three days," Gray said and Juvia bit her lip.

"Actually Natsu made our stay for a week," Juvia admitted and Gray threw his head back against the window and groaned.

"Is he trying to kill me?" Gray muttered and he was happy that Juvia didn't hear him.

Despite all his years of working with Fairy Tail he had never been out to Akane once. So he still had the excitement and wonder of a child traveling to a place for the very first time. Fountains that were shooting jets of water high into the air were placed in between palm trees that were scattered around the front side of the hotel. The building itself was wide and thin and made of white concrete while brightly colored flowers were placed in window boxes. From what Natsu had told them the first ten floors were for the spa, dining, ballrooms, entertainment, a gym, and the casino. Every floor after that was all for rooms and the higher the floor number the more luxurious the rooms got. A wide, circular driveway led up to the entrance to the lobby. When the car parked itself on the smooth stone driveway Gray and Juvia got out of the car. Gray unloaded their bags and they gave the key to the valet who was waiting outside.

"We have to act like we're a couple," Juvia murmured to Gray as they passed through the sliding, glass doors. With that she had grabbed Gray's hand and he returned the gesture, albeit significantly less happy than she was about it. The marble floors were polished and waxed. A fountain was placed in the center of the room and small rainbows were thrown across the room from the sunlight that was streaming through the windows. On the left wall was a check in desk and the opposite wall was home to two elevators. While trying to act as naturally as they could, they walked over to the marble desk where several hotel employees were tapping away on screens built into the surface. At the two's arrival at the sign that said 'line forms here' one of the employee's heads perked up.

"I can help you over here," she chirped and the duo made their way over to where the girl sat behind the desk. "How can I help you?" Sometimes Gray had to wonder if they ever got tired of smiling and sounding so energetic and enthusiastic.

"We're checking in under the name Natsu Dragion," Gray said and the employee entered Natsu's alias into the database.

"Oh yes, you'll be staying in room 4 on the 20th floor," she informed. "Can I get your fingerprints? They're what we use instead of a key since those can be so easily misplaced," she said smoothly and Gray felt on edge.

"Of course," Juvia replied with no hesitation and they each put their index finger on a scanner that had popped up in front of them.

"Excellent, everything seems to be in order then since your room was prepaid. With your status you can enjoy all of the amenities with no extra costs, which must be comforting to know since you're on your honeymoon." Gray internally swore to himself to kill Natsu. The bastard was probably dying of laughter just thinking about it. "Enjoy your stay!"

"Thank you, we will," Juvia responded yet again since Gray was seething with rage and was in no mood to respond civilly. As the "couple" were walking away the girl who had been helping them turned away from the counter spoke into her earpiece.

"Yes they just checked in. Do you want me to keep tabs on them?"

 **So this was kind of something that I wanted to write since I hinted that Juvia would be going back to Akane in the last chapter. Like I said earlier, I will be finishing up this side arc and it will be canon to the story. See you guys later!**


	21. Chapter 21

**Hi guys! So I was able to write another chapter since we had two snow days which were amazing. Anyways, this is kind of building up to the main part of this next arc. Enjoy and I'll see you guys later!**

"Seriously? You sent them to Akane and told them to pretend to be honeymooners?" Lucy asked, not at all surprised by Natsu's antics at this point.

"Of course not, I only told them they were going as a couple but I may have mentioned to the hotel employees they were recently married," Natsu responded with a wide, innocent grin that made him seem not innocent at all.

"Did Mira suggest this to you?" Lucy pressed and Natsu nodded. "He's going to murder you Natsu," Lucy warned and Natsu just laughed.

"There's too many legal complications for him if he does, but just thinking of his face when he hears that makes me happy." Lucy internally shuddered.

The two plus Happy were driving into downtown Magnolia a few hours after Gray and Juvia had left to go to Akane. They had stayed at Natsu's home for the past day cleaning up from the party and relaxing before going back to work. The skyline of Magnolia was on the horizon with the tall metal and dark glass skyscrapers glinting in the sun.

"Do you think they'll find anything?" Lucy asked and Natsu shrugged.

"They might, I mean I managed to get them access to every part of the resort and Gray is an incredible hacker so finding information shouldn't be that big of a problem," the pinkette replied.

"And why did you send them there again?"

"Because the last time Juvia went she found orders from somewhere not in Fiore and that requires investigation." Natsu didn't voice his worst fears about what she would find. From the last rumors he had heard, Zeref had been seen in Alvarez or a country nearby. It was entirely possible that he had control over the operations going on in Akane through one of the Balam Alliance members. But that also meant that there was some ulterior motive; Zeref wouldn't just establish a drug trade at one the most popular resorts on the continent just for the hell of it. There had to be another reason but Natsu didn't want to think about that right now. He could deal with it later _if_ his suspicions were correct. He could only pray that he was wrong and it was a group completely unrelated to him. He was brought back to reality when he heard both Lucy and Happy repeating his name.

"You spaced out for a minute; we're here now," Happy informed him.

"Oh, I didn't notice. I was just thinking." He waved off their concerns and slid out of the car, holding the door open for Lucy as Happy lazily flew through the air next to his head.

Everyone was already eating, drinking and standing in front of the smart walls. Cana was already surrounded by two empty bottles of Sake while Mirajane was bringing her more seeing as she tossed the bottle she was currently drinking aside. "Go spend some time down here, I need to go to my office," Natsu told her and left to go up the elevator.

"Lu!" Lucy lifted her head and saw Levy waving furiously from her seat at the bar. Lucy waved back and weaved her way through the throngs of people in the room. "How are you today?" Levy asked when Lucy had taken a seat next to her and ordered a smoothie from Mira.

"I'm good, we've just been cleaning up the mansion for the past day since the party," Lucy paused to thank the white haired bartender as a strawberry smoothie was placed in front of her. "How has Evelyn been doing?"

"She's doing better. Erza took her shopping today so that's why they're not here. Erza wanted me to tell you though that she's doing fine," Levy said and Lucy nodded.

"That's good." The conversation lulled for a minute before the two turned to talking about books and if there were any new novels that had been published. "Hey Mira," Lucy called and she looked up from where she was wiping down the counter.

"What is it Lucy?" she asked.

"Natsu told me that you told him to make Juvia and Gray act like a couple," Lucy stated casually and Mira squealed.

"I'm so glad he listened. Maybe a week at the Akane Resort can finally get them together. I mean, they've known each other for years now but Gray won't admit that he's in love with her." Lucy arched an eyebrow.

"How do you know he is?" the blonde pressed and Mira looked like her world shattered.

"Don't suggest things like that to her," Levy leaned in to whisper. "She gets emotional." When they looked back at the older woman Lucy was shocked to find her in tears while Levy just sighed. Mirajane had always been like this. She was too meddlesome when it came to relationships but that also meant there was never a dull moment. Levy had a sinking suspicion that Mira would try to meddle in her relationship with Gajeel or that she would try to set something up for Natsu and Lucy. "Speaking of, where is Natsu?"

"He said he was going to go do some work; maybe he's waiting on a report from Gray," Lucy answered, not really sure of what to say. Despite how close the two had gotten Natsu still didn't tell her a lot of things related to work.

While Lucy and almost everyone else were downstairs, Natsu was up on another floor in one of the conference rooms talking with Gray. The video was playing on a smart wall while Natsu sat on the table looking amused while Gray ranted to him about the situation he had put them in.

"You know damn well that I don't like her so why the _fuck_ would you make us act like we're married?" Gray was yelling.

"Don't be ridiculous, you're the only one you're fooling Gray," Natsu chided. "If you hated her then you wouldn't have taken this without a second thought." Gray ground his teeth and growled.

"You know I had to go if I didn't want Gajeel to rip my head off! He threatened to kill me if I left her alone and got her hurt."

"I don't see why you're complaining," Natsu continued, raising his voice above Gray's. "You have an expensive room, that I paid for with my own damn money, at one of the most famous hotels in the world _and_ I got you access to everything with no extra cost so you can waste the day away gambling or doing couples' massages with Juvia or whatever the hell you want to do. Maybe you two can finally confess to each other." Natsu smirked at Gray's expression of outrage.

"Maybe you should have gone with Lucy and then you could have confessed to her and I could be in your place making fun of you," Gray retorted. Natsu just shook his head.

"It's different. We've only known each other for a few months; you've known Juvia for years now. Sure you _used_ to hate her but you two have been doing a lot more jobs together recently," Natsu countered.

"If you're not going to say anything of importance I'm hanging up and not talking to you for the rest of the week," Gray threatened. Natsu chuckled and stopped his teasing…for the moment.

"Do you have anything to report?" Natsu asked, turning serious and more professional.

"Nothing seems out of the ordinary but we haven't really had time to investigate," Gray replied, relieved that Natsu had stopped being a jerk. However, after Gray's response he arched an eyebrow with a suggestive smile on his face. "Stop that otherwise I'm going to throw the tech in the ocean."

"You wouldn't dare," Natsu laughed but he stopped the teasing nonetheless on the off chance Gray was serious. Makarov would have his head if he found out that some of his technology had been trashed because of a fight. "Erza would beat you black and blue."

"Report back to me tonight and then I'll leave you alone for the day," Natsu ordered and Gray nodded. "Ok then, have a good day lovebirds." Natsu turned off the video before Gray could yell at him. Natsu laughed when he thought about how pissed Gray had been when his face originally showed up on the video screen. With a sigh, he left the room and went down to another floor.

The fifteenth floor was a floor that was rarely used and he had no idea why. It was similar to the communications room four floors below but it was different. Like the communications room, the floor was metal and there weren't any windows. Screens seemed to cover every wall but the main computer was on the back wall. Every piece of technology in the room was covertly connected to very database that they were capable of hacking in to. In short, it was probably the most valuable room in the world. Sure they were connected to museum and library databases, Levy had insisted they were valuable for research, but what he was after were all the government files that were at his disposal. There wasn't a doubt in Natsu's mind that the wonderful government in Era had conducted investigations about the Balam Alliance and Zeref that they weren't sharing with the public. After flicking a button to lock the door Natsu pulled up a swivel chair and sat down in front of the main computer screen. A keyboard appeared on the glass panel in front of him and with bated breath he typed in "Zeref" and watched thousands of results crawl across the screen.

"Was that Natsu?" Juvia asked after Gray had hung up with Natsu. If it weren't for the fact Erza would kick his ass for damaging company technology he would have made good on his promise to take the tablet he was holding and throw it into the ocean.

"Yeah," Gray muttered, still not thrilled with his presence. Juvia was more than capable of going by herself; she had done so before and had come back without a scratch. Or if it really concerned them, Gajeel could have gone with her. "Are we doing anything tonight?"

"I thought we could go to the hotel's restaurant and set up an observation. Can you hack into the cameras?" Gray gritted his teeth and nodded.

"Yes, I can hack into cameras," he replied with a slightly sarcastic tone. "Let me do that right now," he excused himself from the sitting area and moved to the bedroom. The quality of the room and the views made him almost feel guilty for being angry with Natsu. _Almost_. Gray had to admit, the room was impressive and not just for the stunning views of the turquoise blue ocean that stretched as far as the eye could see. The room was equipped with the latest technology and while the walls were painted a light grey the rest of the furniture was white with varying shades of blue. Gray unpacked the other tablet he brought with him, the one that was capable of projecting holograms. But because Natsu had told him not to use holograms while working here for reasons the pinkette wouldn't disclose. Gray thought it was just him being paranoid and wanting to make life difficult. On a deeper level he knew that Natsu wouldn't ask him to do something that was ridiculously inconvenient, like not using holograms, without a good reason. Despite their constant fighting, Gray knew that Natsu valued his work and wouldn't want anything to threaten it, which lead Gray to think that Natsu knew something about the activities going on at the Akane Resort that he didn't want anyone to know. With a sigh, and after cracking his knuckles he got to work on hacking his way through firewall after firewall. When he finally had access to the hotel's network and interface he froze.

"Oh shit," was all he said before turning to call for Juvia.


	22. Chapter 22

**I'm back! I would've had this posted earlier but I was visiting colleges for the past week. That was fun but I'm glad I get to write again. Also thank you so much for giving 150 follows and 90 favorites. It makes me so happy that people like what I'm writing. Anyways, enjoy!**

"What is it?" Juvia asked as she came into the room that Gray was in.

"You were on to something when you came here," Gray stated as he showed the display of information to her. "The source codes are from Fiore. Write those down and send them to Natsu."

"Do you know what they're for?" Juvia asked and Gray shook his head. "Maybe you should tell him to have Freed look over them and see if he can trace them." Gray agreed with a nod.

Natsu was generally annoyed when he got distracted from his work especially while he was researching Zeref's whereabouts. With a sigh he tapped in a command to transfer everything that was on the screen to project a hologram over a glass table in the middle of the room. He swiped all of the windows that were currently open over to the side of the screen before opening up the message that had been sent to him. Gray had sent him an email with nothing more than a "I found these codes. Might want to have Freed look over them." Well at least Gray was doing something productive. It irked him that he couldn't find anything else but calmed himself down with the thought that he had six more days there, plenty of time to dig up information. Natsu turned the hologram off and went down the elevator to the main room to see if Freed was there. If he wasn't in the building Levy could do it, but Freed was generally better with technology.

In the elevator ride down Natsu decided to screw around with Gajeel a bit and switched the elevator music to heavy metal. He allowed himself a smirk. When they were younger he used to tease Gajeel and say that heavy metal suited him since he had so many piercings. That had earned him a black eye and a talking to by his uncle and father. When the elevator doors opened he did a quick skim of the room before making his way to the bar where Lucy and Mira were talking. "Hello Natsu," Mira greeted him and he smiled before sitting down next to Lucy.

"How are you today Mira?" Natsu asked, not even needing to order anything because he got a glass of firewhisky with the rim of the glass on fire.

"I'm doing well how are you?"

"Have you seen Freed here at all today?" Natsu asked in response to her question. Mira looked surprised and furrowed her brows in concentration.

"I know I saw him today, maybe you should go up to the fifth floor to see if Laxus and the others are up there," Mira suggested and Natsu nodded. Before taking a sip of his drink he blew the fire out.

"How's Evelyn doing?"

"She's out shopping with Erza right now, but she seems to be doing ok. She's been having nightmares but I think they're getting better," Mira informed and Natsu nodded his head and slowly exhaled.

"That's good," he murmured, "I'm glad she's out doing things."

"Why do you need to find Freed?" Lucy asked. She had only met the green-haired male once or twice since he was always out with Laxus, Evergreen, and Bickslow doing jobs.

"Gray sent me some IP addresses that I want him to trace. It may have something to do with Tartaros or Grimoire Heart but I'm not sure yet," he answered with a frown.

"Could it have something to do with my father?" Lucy asked as she inspected her nails for no other reason than to avoid eye contact.

"It's a possibility," Natsu mused. "I wouldn't be surprised. Targeting Akane must be great. You have hoards of rich aristocrats who aren't careful and are willing to sell any information if enough money is offered. Selling drugs could just be a way to gain access to tech devices from members of the aristocracy." He cleared his throat and stood up when he realized he was going to give his opinions on what he thought of that. "Well I need to go and try to find Freed so I'll see you two later."

The fifth floor, unofficially, belonged to Laxus and his team. They had already been using it as their base of operations when Natsu had joined all those years ago. At first Natsu hadn't liked Laxus and Laxus didn't really like anyone. It was only after a huge fight with Makarov and being kicked out for six months that he changed for the better.

Since Laxus and his group lived at the tower for the most part, the elevator opened into a hallway and the doors right in front of him lead into a lounge complete with a bar, a small kitchen set, and an air hockey table. The entire back wall was glass and the wall on the left was a smart wall. To his surprise only Evergreen and Bickslow were there. They hadn't noticed his entry since they were too engrossed in the video game they were playing.

"Hey guys," he said loudly and they jumped.

"Hey Natsu what's up?" Bickslow asked and Natsu shrugged.

"Nothing much, but have you guys seen Freed today? It's for something really important," he explained and they looked at each other.

"I think he said he was working with Levy because Sabertooth sent over some sort of drug that Sting wanted examined. I believe Rufus is with them as well," Evergreen answered and Natsu groaned.

"Thanks Ever, I'll see you guys later." For his fourth ride in the elevator within a span of ten minutes he was riding up to the tenth floor, which was where the laboratory was. Much to Natsu's relief Freed was there, accompanied by Rufus and Levy, who were all studying a 3D holographic model of some chemical compound with a window of text next to it. There were screens covering the walls like there were in most of the rooms however there were a lot of microscopes and laboratory equipment.

"Natsu, hi," Levy greeted when she heard Natsu's footsteps on the metal floor. "What are you doing here?"

"I needed to ask Freed for something, but maybe the three of you can work on it together. First things first though, what are you looking at right now? Ever told me it was some kind of drug but have you figured anything out?"

"We found the pills when we raided one of the Oracion Seis' warehouses," Rufus began the explanation. "We broke it down so we could see individual compounds and the chemical we're looking at right now has the potential to cause someone's personality to do a complete shift." Seeing Natsu's confused look he explained the rest. "If someone is 'good' this drug has the ability to change the thought processes in one's mind so they would become 'bad' for lack of a better way to explain it." Natsu nodded and sighed.

"You seem to be making a lot of progress with this but I need to ask a favor. Gray sent me an email with IP addresses from somewhere inside Fiore but I need to figure out where it originated from," he requested.

"Is this for the Akane Resort investigation?" Freed asked and Natsu nodded. "I'm willing to work on this for you, I think we've gotten a lot of information with Nirvana and we can come back later and always do more research."

"I agree; would you mind if I reported this back to Sting?" Rufus asked and Natsu shook his head.

"The more allies that know about this the better. I think it's either from Tartaros or Grimoire Heart but Lucy brought up the idea that it could also be her father. I don't want to take any of them on by myself even though I know Fairy Tail can kick ass," Natsu answered, smirking at the last part of his response.

"We've got this covered Natsu, we'll report to you as soon as we can," Levy promised. "We need to go to the fifteenth floor since that's where we can access databases and it'll be a good place to start this." The group of four crowded into the elevator and Levy smiled when she heard the heavy metal music Natsu had put on just an hour ago.

"Did you do this to make Gajeel angry?" she asked with a knowing smile. Natsu grinned and put a finger over his lips.

"Don't defend him he needs a break from jazz and you know it! There's only so much off-tune singing one can take," Natsu argued and Levy laughed.

"I promise not to say a thing, but don't blame me when he beats you up," she teased and Natsu scoffed.

"He wishes he could beat me up even on his best days," he boasted. When the group of three got off the elevators Natsu was left alone again, chuckling at the exchange with Levy about his cousin. When he was back on the main floor he was thrilled to see Evelyn and Erza had returned from their shopping trip and she was now eating at the bar while talking with Lisanna and Mira.

"Natsu," Erza called and he turned around to look at her.

"Yeah, what's up?"

"Have you heard from Gray yet?" she asked and Natsu nodded his head.

"He sent me a list of IP addresses that he found when he was hacking the hotel system. Levy, Rufus, and Freed are looking them over now to see where they're from. Are you concerned for any specific reason?" Erza sighed.

"Jellal messaged me while I was out with Evelyn, that's why we had to come back." Natsu arched an eyebrow. Jellal rarely contacted Erza, if it was it was normally a warning of some sort. "He just said that there was a lot of violence near Akane recently and that the police have had to make several arrests. I already contacted Gray and Juvia to warn them."

"Great, just what we needed," he whined. "The Oracion Seis are coming up with drugs to fucking change a person's personality and now I have to worry about that dumbass," at Erza's glare he squeaked and corrected himself, "I mean Gray, being taken hostage by Tartaros, Grimoire Heart, or Jude Heartfilia."

"Where did you get that information about the Oracion Seis from?" Lisanna asked as he and Erza had slowly migrated towards the bar. Lucy was still sitting there, but she seemed more removed than she had been when he left to go hunt down Freed. He shot her a warm smile and she gave a small one in return.

"Saber raided a warehouse and found a drug that they call 'Nirvana', That's why Rufus was here, he brought it over so we could collaborate." Lisanna shivered.

"That's disturbing." No one commented because there was no need to. Everyone knew how fucked up that was. "Is it just me, or does it seem like the members of the Balam Alliance have been acting up recently?"

"It's definitely not just you," Erza replied with a frown. "The fact that all of them are suddenly becoming more active than they've been in years is a disturbing thought." The group fell quiet until Natsu spoke again.

"So how have you been Evie?" he asked and his sister gave him a small smile.

"Ok, Erza took me shopping this morning and that was really fun."

"Did you have to stop and go into every single bakery that you passed?" His adoptive sister laughed.

"Of course! I'm pretty sure we spent at least half of the time in bakeries and cafés." Natsu chuckled in response and ruffled his sister's hair. "How are you doing Luce?"

"Pretty good, is there anything you need help with?" She looked hopeful and he exhaled a laugh.

"You could go help Levy and the others with their research if you want something to do. I don't really have anything planned. You on the other hand," he said turning to his sister who was still bone thin and weak, "are coming with me up to the training floor so we can start getting you healthy again. I'll be up there in a minute." As his sister left for the elevators with Lucy following, he turned to Mira and lowered his voice. "Has she been eating?" Mira nodded slowly.

"Not as much as she used to but we're trying to get her to eat more than she has been. I actually suggested to Erza that they go into so many bakeries so Evie could have a lot to eat."

"And did she?" Natsu pressed.

"From what Erza told me, she did." Natsu breathed a sigh of relief and thanked her before ambling over to the elevator and waiting for it impatiently to come down again.

Akane's famous restaurant, Ocean Breeze, deserved the nearly five star review it got on almost every website it was ranked on, in Gray's opinion. What made it different than the other restaurants at the resort is if you wanted to access it you needed to take a boat. The restaurant was on a platform that resembled a dock about a mile and a half away from land. Warm light seeped out from the entrance and the cracks in the wall.

He and Juvia were holding hands and acting like the newlyweds they were supposed to be. She was wearing a simple white, halter dress and he was wearing a purple, short-sleeved, button-up shirt and shorts. Both of them were wearing sandals although Juvia's were more elaborate. As they walked towards the entryway Gray leaned over to Juvia and whispered "try to see if there's anything strange about the people working here." Juvia laughed and replied with a soft "ok" while they played it off as whispering something sweet or sharing an inside joke.

"Hello can I help you today?" the waiter standing outside asked.

"Reservation for two under Natsu Dragion," Gray said and the waiter tapped the name into a thin tablet that was stationed on a podium right inside the entrance. When Gray looked down he almost jumped when he saw a shark swimming below them. He didn't know that the floor was going to be glass. Natsu really was trying to kill him on this trip wasn't he?

"Right this way," the waiter prompted and strode away. Blown glass lanterns ranging from sea greens to deep blues were hanging from the ceiling which made the building seem like it was in the water. "Just put your orders into the tablets in the table and then someone will bring the food out." Just as promptly the person who had seated them walked back to the podium and began typing something earnestly into his tablet.

"This place is making me uneasy," Juvia whispered and Gray nodded. "Especially since we're the only one's here."

 ***cue Jaws theme* Yeah, I like ending chapters on cliffhangers and seeing what your reactions are through the reviews that you guys leave. Anyways, I'll see you guys soon!**


	23. Chapter 23

**I'm back! This chapter is short but it's kind of leading up to the main part of this. I threw in some more Nalu and Gruvia out there for you. Enjoy! I also posted this recently on ao3. My username is the same too.**

And suddenly the restaurant didn't seem all that peaceful after all. The silence besides the sound of the water underneath them became ominous. The lack of staff made it seem even more dangerous. "Shit you're right," Gray whispered back to her, "just act natural and try not to pay any attention." The two sat quietly, and went back to swiping through menu options.

"Nothing here looks appetizing," Juvia murmured and Gray had to agree.

"Just order something, it beats looking suspicious," Gray muttered back and he selected a fish that was roasted and covered in lemon juice. He didn't know what Juvia ordered but she was mumbling something about how what she ordered was _good enough_. He could tell that she was anxious by how she was tapping the table. He had gone on enough missions with her to know that that was her tell when she was getting nervous or on edge. Gray couldn't blame her, he was tensing up and getting ready for a fight. He had a small handgun with him and he knew Juvia had her own weapon as well.

"I don't want to eat anything anymore," Juvia murmured and he understood her fear. She was afraid that the food might be poisoned and that was a concern he shared as well.

When the server came back with their food Gray decided to ask some innocent questions that anyone with a brain would ask. "Is it normally this quiet in the restaurant?" he asked and the server stared at him with a blank expression.

"Well did you find anything?" Natsu pressed when Levy, Freed, and Rufus had come down from the research room. The three exchanged glances before Levy spoke up.

"Not particularly, each of the addresses always seems to come from a different place," Levy answered and Natsu frowned. He had had a fun day with Evelyn in the training room. To see her as weak as she currently was hurt him. Her body trembled with even the slightest task. On the other hand, her skin was gaining its regular color back. Erza had said she had been spending a lot of time outside playing with Plue. Her voice wasn't as hoarse and faint as it had been when they rescued her. Porlyusica and Wendy had said she was simply malnourished and still emotionally recovering. Someone had taken the care to clean all of her cuts before they could become infected.

"Ultear and Meredy said that Grimoire Heart had an airship; that could be why the addresses change so much," Erza suggested as she overheard the conversation.

"When Minerva was undercover at Tartaros she said they were also based on an airship, one that looks like a cube," Rufus informed.

"Great," Natsu muttered and sank onto a barstool. "You guys can get back to work on Nirvana. Thanks for everything."

"Anytime Natsu," Levy chirped. The three went back into the elevator and left. Natsu buried his face in his hands and groaned.

"I'm going to lose hair," he whined.

"I thought I've seen pink hair around the house," Happy teased and Natsu half-heartedly swiped at him.

"Shut up cat."

"Do you want to go home Natsu?" Lucy asked softly and he nodded. "Evelyn are you still going to be staying at Fairy Hills?" The black-haired teen nodded.

Evelyn and Lucy's relationship was improving slowly. Very, very slowly. It was small things, like Evelyn nodding whenever Lucy entered the room or a twitch of her mouth when Lucy had said or done something funny. "Ok then. Have a good night." A nod was the only response she got but it was better than the cold silent treatment she had been receiving.

The ride back home was silent and when they got there Lucy instantly busied herself with cooking dinner. Natsu sat down at the island and laid his head against the cold, black marble island. "Do you want me to cook chicken?" He nodded against the counter and the room fell quiet.

"Can you make a fish for me?" Happy asked.

"There's one in the freezer so just give it to me and I'll put it in the oven." While everything was cooking Lucy sat across from him. "Something's been bothering you lately, what is it?" His dark eyes flicked up to make eye contact before averting his gaze.

"Nothing, really," he murmured and Lucy's eyebrows furrowed.

"No, it's not nothing. Natsu look at me," the sharpness in her voice caused him to raise his head. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing is —"

"Don't lie to me Natsu!"

"It's. Nothing. If it concerns you, I'll be sure to tell you." Lucy bit her lip and looked down at the countertop. She knew she had pushed him too far but she was fed up. She wanted him to let her in but that wasn't working. He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "Listen I'm sorry."

"It's ok. You've been dealing with a lot. What with Evelyn and the Balam Alliance acting up, I'd be surprised if you acted like you were fine," she gave him a small smile and Natsu felt his heart clench. How many times had she had to say that to herself to explain her father's behavior? Or his? He didn't know what to do; words were never his strong suit so instead he got up and hugged her.

"I'm so sorry," he whispered into her hair. Lucy didn't know what he was apologizing for but she returned the hug nonetheless. "I wish I could tell you," he tilted his head down so he was looking into her eyes. He closed his eyes again like he was in pain. "But I want to keep you safe." Natsu hugged her tighter. "And I'm afraid that if I tell you…" He didn't even want to think about what could happen to her. He sighed. "Let's just stay like this for a minute." And they did, until the oven beeped telling them that their dinner was ready.

Juvia didn't like the way that their waiter was staring at them. "Well this restaurant is expensive and some people just don't want to spend the extra money when there's a perfectly good restaurant in the hotel." Juvia's eyes narrowed. In her experience traveling to five-star hotels and restaurants for both Phantom Lord and Fairy Tail had holographic menus that allowed a 3D image of what the dish looked like. She knew Gray had thought the same thing.

"When was the last time this particular restaurant was renovated?" she asked.

"A couple of years ago. The Akane Resort and Casino wants to spend more money updating the casino and rooms. You can understand that surely?" He didn't leave time for a response. "Your food will be out soon." Juvia met Gray's eyes and she knew he was thinking the same thing. Unknowingly, Fairy Tail and their allies had been set up by someone.


	24. Chapter 24

**Sorry this isn't an update but as I'm uploading chapters to AO3 I'll be making some small changes to the story. It won't be anything major, just some details and a little dialogue but the changes aren't that important. Thanks, and I'll try to get the next chapter out soon!**


	25. Chapter 25

**Hi guys, this is another kind of short chapter but we're getting to the climax of this arc, I promise the next couple of chapters will be more exciting. This has over 160 follows and I can't express how happy that makes me that people actually enjoy reading my writing. It's spring break so maybe I can work on my HP x FT xover as well. Anyways, enjoy!**

As soon as Juvia and Gray got back to their room, they had an argument.

"Calling Natsu would be faster," Gray insisted but Juvia shook her head.

"But our room might be tapped. It'd be safer to send him a message than to call him," she argued back.

"But we need an answer _now_."

"It would also be better to know that what we're saying can't be overheard." The two glared at each other before Gray sighed.

"You're right; I'll send him a message," he reluctantly shuffled over to the tablet he had brought with him and sent Natsu a message.

 **To Natsu:**

 **We think that we were set up. The restaurant we went to tonight was empty and it hadn't been updated in a couple of years.**

Now all he had to think about was what Natsu's response would be. Knowing Natsu, he would probably send them out of the hotel and to Fairy Tail's nearby beach mansion because, from what he had heard, beach _house_ just didn't cover how amazing and beautiful it was. In all honesty he was curious what made this one almost rival their other beach house that was used strictly for relaxation on Tenrou Island. Erza had said that both of them were amazing and if she had to pick one she wouldn't be able to decide. The tablet beeped and it brought him out of his thoughts.

 **To Gray:**

 **See if you can get out. We have reason to believe that Tartaros or Grimoire Heart is in control their. I want you to come back as soon as you can.**

 **To Gray:**

 **And don't you dare stay at the hotel when I told you not to.**

Gray chuckled at Natsu's last message. Natsu knew him too well. "What did Natsu say?" Juvia asked from where she was seated on a bed.

"He wants us to leave as soon as we can. We have a house around here and he wants us to go there. Natsu gave me the order to not hang around here any longer than we have to."

"Then we should leave tonight," Juvia decided. She grabbed their still mostly packed suitcases and stood by the door, making it clear that she didn't want to hang around any longer than she had to. The whole resort was making her feel on edge and paranoid. If what Natsu had sent to Gray was true, and he had no reason to lie, and that Tartaros or Grimoire Heart _were_ integral to the running of the resort she wanted to get as far away from them as possible. Gray stood up and put the tablet in a pocket in his suitcase.

"C'mon let's go." The hall was silent and the elevator ride down was tense. Both teenagers were tensing, almost like they were expecting a fight. "If they do attack us, I'll hold them off. You just get the car and go straight back to Fairy Tail to tell Natsu what's happened."

"I'm not leaving you Gray; I can fight with you," Juvia muttered back, both being careful to keep their voices low.

"I can't let myself be responsible for you winding up hurt or-"

"Don't you dare finish that sentence Gray," Juvia looked up to him. "If they capture you, then I'm staying with you. We're stronger together. Besides Natsu can track us." The closer the elevator got to the lobby, the more tense they had become. It was just a gut feeling that they would be in a lot more trouble sooner than they would hope.

"Freed, I want you to activate Gray and Juvia's trackers," Natsu commanded when he saw him finally come down from the research lab. "Gray's afraid they were set up at Akane and I don't want to take any chances of losing them."

"I'll set that up now then," Freed went back up to the room and Natsu sighed.

"Worried about Gray and Juvia?" Mira asked as she saw Natsu slumped over the bar countertop.

"As if I'd worry about that Icicle," Natsu scoffed but he wasn't making eye contact with her. "A little bit. I just have a really bad feeling right now."

"They'll keep each other safe," Mira reassured and Natsu shrugged his shoulders. "They're a good team and they work well together. Did you give them permission to stay at our house in Akane?"

"Yeah I did; I just hope they can get out of the resort undetected without being stopped."

"Salamander!" Gajeel roared as he stepped out of the elevator.

"What metal head?" Natsu yelled back. "Did you lose your fedora again?"

"What is this I heard about Juvia being in danger?" Natsu sighed and turned around.

"Listen, she knew what she was getting into when she decided to take this job. And Gray's with her, they'll be fine." But even to him, he knew it was a frail attempt to comfort himself. "They'll be fine," he repeated.

"You better hope that Vastia decides not to visit her. He'd probably kick your ass," Gajeel smirked slightly at the idea of his cousin getting beaten in a fight against Gray's cousin.

"Keep dreaming, he couldn't beat me in a fight. You haven't heard from Lamia Scale right?" Natsu had to ask just to make sure. To be honest, Gajeel and Lyon were probably the most protective of her. Gajeel's overprotectiveness was understandable. They had known each other while Juvia was still a part of Phantom Lord and he had always kept an eye on her. Lyon on the other hand…well Lyon was protective of her because he hoped that one day she would get over her infatuation with Gray and would fall in love with him instead. "If he comes busting down my door there's going to be hell to pay."

"I'd pay to see that fight." Gajeel narrowly avoided a punch from Natsu.

"Now I'm going to be looking over my shoulder for the rest of the day waiting to see that white-haired stripper pop up right behind me," the pinkette grumbled. "It's dumb." The only person he could stand in that family was Ultear. Gray and Lyon annoyed the hell out of him.

"The chips are activated Natsu," Freed informed as he passed where Natsu and Gajeel were standing.

"Thanks a lot Freed, did you see anything about where they were?"

"They're still within the resort but beyond that no, I didn't find anything." Natsu rubbed his eyes.

"Ok then. Thank you." As Freed walked away and Gajeel left to go find Levy, Natsu silently prayed that Juvia and Gray would be fine.

As Gray and Juvia were briskly walking through the lobby, the same woman that had checked them in saw them leaving. "Are you leaving so soon? You still have six more days reserved."

"Unfortunately my husband isn't feeling well," Juvia lied, carrying with the story that they were on their honeymoon. "And while I'm sure there are good doctors here, it would be better to be back at our home."

"Of course, I completely understand. I hope you feel better soon." Juvia started feeling uneasy when she saw the employee tap something into the tablet in front of her. "Your car will be waiting outside in a moment. Thank you for your stay." Juvia had her arm wrapped around Gray's waist to support her story that he wasn't feeling well. True to the woman's words, their car was waiting for them in the circular driveway outside the resort. The air was more cold than Magnolia was due to the proximity to the water. If their lives weren't in danger, Juvia would have considered it beautiful. The moon and stars were reflected in the calm ocean and the lights that twisted around the palm trees created spirals of light in the dark. The thought that someone could have bugged the car with a tracking device or a recorder flitted through her mind, but she didn't dare say anything for fear of being overheard by unwanted attention. They would deal with it when they were safely in the confines of Fairy Tail's beach house that was used strictly for business. Gray tapped the address that Natsu had sent him into the GPS and the car moved smoothly onto the open road.

The house that Makarov owned, like all the others was as extravagant as Juvia would have expected it to be. Whereas Phantom Lord liked to keep their houses in urban areas in a harmless-seeming house, Fairy Tail had their houses away from cities and were as stunning as she expected houses that millionaires owned. In the dark, Juvia could tell from the lights posted by the front door that it was made out of a smooth, tan stucco. The front lawn didn't look spectacular but that was the same with almost all of the houses she'd seen during her time with Fairy Tail.

Once they stepped inside, Juvia spoke up about her fears. "I'm afraid that they might have added a tracker or a recorder to the car. Natsu said it was either Grimoire Heart or Tartaros and they would have had the means and time to do it."

"They have facial recognition software that's linked with the faces of all of our allies. If someone not in the system approaches, there are security measures in place to keep everyone inside the house safe while an alert is sent to HQ." Juvia still wasn't reassured and Gray noticed. "It's ok, they can't get into this house." To prove his point he tapped a glass panel that was next to the front door on the inside of the house. A menu came up and he turned on the security system that he had just described to Juvia.

"If it makes you feel any better, you go to sleep. I'll stay up and keep watch." Juvia did just that. She would look at the house in the morning when her nerves were more calm and the light of day would hopefully keep away potential enemies. She went into the first room that had a bed and went to sleep.

Gray didn't wake her when titanium sheets rippled down to cover all the windows and doors, looking like liquid silver in the moonlight. Just to be safe though, he scooped her up in his arms and stood in front of another glass panel that was mounted on an ordinary looking wall. His eyes were scanned and the wall shifted to reveal a flight of stairs that lead down to a bunker that would only reveal itself to people tied into the security system. He could manually control the security system and besides, it was almost like a luxury bunker. There was a pool, a movie theater, three bedrooms, a fully stocked kitchen, and a Jacuzzi. He would send a message to Natsu, and to just to screw around with him, for making him act like Juvia was his wife, he would send the message with a blaring saxophone that would wake him up instantly.

 **Yes another cliffhanger, I know. See you later guys!**


	26. Chapter 26

**Seeing as I'm recovering from wisdom teeth surgery I had nothing better to do than write this. It's another long chapter, a little bit over 3K words but I'm really happy about it. Anyways, enjoy and I'll see you guys later!**

When Juvia woke up, it took her a minute to get her bearings straight. The bed she was in was just as fluffy and soft, but the large window was nowhere in sight. She sat up and rubbed her eyes before looking around at her new surroundings. There were no windows in the room she had clearly been moved to as sleepwalking had never been a problem for her. A soft knock echoed through the room and she jumped slightly at the noise. "Yes?" When the door opened to reveal Gray standing there leaning against the doorframe she calmed down slightly.

"Good you're awake, it's almost twelve in the afternoon," he informed as he continued resting against the wall.

"Where are we?"

"Oh we're still at the house, but we're in the bunker that's underneath it. Last night a couple of minutes after you went to sleep, the security system was activated so we moved down here. I've been monitoring the cameras and security system all night now." Well that explained the change in surroundings. Now that she wasn't panicking as much she looked around the room. Pastel blue walls were decorated with white stencils of whimsical trees to make the room seem less constraining. The bed had similar coloring except the blankets were a couple of shades darker than the paint. A comfortable light grey chair was positioned in the corner next to a small bookshelf with books that looked like they hadn't ever been touched. And for all Juvia knew, they weren't.

"Natsu sent me a message last night when I told him. Ultear and Meredy are coming here and then we can determine if we need outside help. He said that he might call Lamia scale if we don't need that many reinforcements." He was praying that the idiot wouldn't ask Lyon, Sherry, and Jura. Jura he could handle. Sherry always tested his patience with how she declared everything to be related to love and saying other ridiculous nonsense like that every other minute. Then Lyon. He and his cousin had always had rocky history.

They had lived together with their Aunt Ur and her daughter Ultear. The two boys had constantly been fighting for her attention, always trying to one-up the other and show off. When Ur had been killed their relationship took a turn for the worse. Ultear had joined Grimoire Heart, Lyon had wandered around getting into fights with anyone that challenged him, and Gray had joined Fairy Tail. Gray still remembered hearing Jellal tell Erza that he had cornered Ultear and convinced her to become a double agent. They had infiltrated the Council in Era together and had been thrown in jail together. She had infiltrated Grimoire Heart for a little while longer, gathering information and transmitting it back to Jellal. Since she had ranking as one of the Seven Kin of Purgatory, the most dangerous members of Grimoire Heart, their master, Hades, had welcomed her back with open arms.

"Natsu said that since this could be concerning Grimoire Heart, Ultear and Meredy will be coming as well," he added. At least Ultear could act as a buffer between the two male cousins. Juvia was quiet, absorbing all the information that Gray had given her before nodding,

"Very well then. I trust Natsu and we'll be out of this situation soon enough," she finally said after a few moments of silence.

"Do you want breakfast or do you want to watch a movie instead?" Gray offered and they went to the kitchen and afterward went to see what movies they had at their disposal to watch.

A few hours later and Gray saw through the cameras surrounding the property that Ultear and Meredy had arrived. A black car with tinted windows had pulled up, stopped only long enough for the two Crime Sorciere members to exit and then took off, zooming down the empty street. Deciding that she wanted to be with Gray, Juvia left with him to go greet the two women at the front door. Besides, Juvia had a good relationship with Meredy. They were close friends and the female pinkette was one of the only girls she didn't get jealous of when she talked to Gray. They were too much like family to threaten her relationship with him.

"Juvia! It's great to see you again!" Meredy and Juvia hugged each other tightly.

"It's been a while Gray," Ultear said with a small smile. "I just wish it was under different circumstances." They gave each other a warm hug. "We didn't see any suspicious activity when Sawyer dropped us off. I think you can lower the security measures now and then put them back up later tonight.

Gray lead them through the house, their footsteps echoing off the travertine tiled floors. Now that the titanium curtains had been lifted, Juvia could see the backyard, green with palm trees and grass and the blue of a swimming pool nestled between the green scenery. Beyond that the ocean appeared as a deep blue with sunlight glinting off the waves. Glass doors lead out to the backyard and Juvia could see how the beauty of this rivaled the splendor of their vacation home on Tenrou Island that they went to every summer without fail.

"Is there anything we can get for you to eat?" Juvia offered as they all sat down at a table that let them see through the glass door. "I can't cook a lot, but if there's anything…" she trailed off and both Meredy and Ultear shook their heads.

"Thank you, but water is fine for both of us," Meredy smiled and Juvia went hunting through the mahogany cabinets to find glasses.

"Gray darling, is there anything you want?" When he shook his head Juvia pouted but said nothing. As Juvia was finding glasses to drink from, Gray filled the two in on everything that had happened. They both graciously accepted the glasses of water and took sips, letting Gray talk.

"I don't remember hearing anything about Grimoire Heart working in Akane, do you?" Meredy said and Ultear shook her head slowly. "What did the employee that checked you in look like?" Gray's cousin asked and he described her: a woman not much older than them with pale skin and long black hair. Meredy and Ultear shared glances.

"Ul, that sounds like Seilah," Meredy said and the other girl slowly nodded her head.

"Tell Natsu to look into anything regarding Tartaros, you might have encountered one of their nine 'demon gates'. If it really is them, we need to leave and go back to Magnolia as soon as possible. They're vicious, cruel, and you don't want to be isolated from the others if you're dealing with them. " She winced as if remembering memories from having personally dealt with them. "Rustyrose went to them one time, asking for help. He just wanted to talk with their leader but Kyouka, another one of the demon gates, tortured him and then sent him back barely conscious."

"I remember that," Meredy recalled. "Master Hades was furious. The only reason he didn't attack was because of the agreement that we all signed so there wouldn't be any violence between Grimoire Heart, Tartaros, and the Oracion Seis."

"What did they do to him?" Juvia asked and the two visitors shivered.

"I'm not entirely sure and I don't think I want to know," Ultear said and the conversation stopped after that.

"This really is a beautiful house," Meredy said, trying to change the subject to something less gruesome. "Makarov must have a lot of time and money to keep all of these houses in such good shape."

Gray snorted. "I still think he spends most of his money on alcohol." No one disagreed.

"Is the beach here private?" Ultear asked and both Gray and Juvia looked offended as they answered 'of course' in unison. "Maybe, we should take an hour off to go down there."

"That sounds like a great idea Ul," Meredy enthusiastically agreed. "We haven't been to the beach in a long time. Jellal never lets us go since we don't have a private beach we can go to."

The group of four lazily followed the gravel path that weaved through clusters of palm trees until the reached the soft white sand of the beach. A small, somewhat dilapidated building stood far out of reach of the water. Despite the cool wind that was brought in by the water, the sun was warm. The balmy weather signified that the scorching heat of summer would occur soon and then they would all go to Tenrou Island.

"Do you know what's in the shed?" Juvia asked and Gray shook his head as he waded into the water with no regard for temperature. Juvia was surprised that there was no lock, or any security for that matter, and when she pushed open the door she found rafts, kayaks, paddleboards, and surfboards. On the rare occasions Phantom Lord had gone to their own private beach, she had been taught to surf. Eager to see if she could still do it, she grabbed a smaller looking one and ran back to the water. Meredy had brought towels and Ultear had dug up an umbrella and they were now lounging on the sand with their eyes closed talking to each other.

The rest of their afternoon proceeded with bliss. Juvia and Meredy had trekked back up to the house to make something for lunch and carried down sandwiches, chips, and lemonade down to the beach where they ate on towels.

"We should have a bonfire party at Tenrou this year," Juvia said to Gray and he smiled.

"Natsu wouldn't say no, just as long as he gets to tend to it. At least if he gets burned he won't care," Gray agreed and Meredy laughed.

When the sun started to sink over the horizon and the sky had light streaks of pink, Gray decided it was time to go back. "I need to talk to Natsu and besides, I'd rather be inside at night when we could get attacked." Juvia shivered at the thought and didn't complain at all.

Being woken up in the middle of the night due to an obnoxious saxophone was not what he had in mind. Especially since he had snuck into Lucy's room. Immediately the blonde sleeping beside him jumped up with a screech. "What the hell are you doing in my room?"

"Shh, it's a message from Gray," Natsu waved away her question leaving Lucy staring at him in the dark with shock written all over her face. Natsu's eyes scanned the email that Gray had sent on the holographic technology built into Lucy's night table.

"What does it say?" Lucy asked and Natsu didn't answer until he read it through twice.

"The security system at the house near Akane went off a couple of minutes ago and Gray wants reinforcements," he informed, not taking his eyes off the letter in front of him. "I'll call in Lamia Scale and Ultear and Meredy." Catching Lucy's expression of confusion he added, "Ultear and Meredy are double agents for Jellal. They're in Grimoire Heart and report everything back to him." He sighed and pushed himself up from the bed. "Go back to sleep, I need to go talk to some people." He slipped out of the room as quietly as he had come in and Lucy sat up in bed. Rationally, she knew she shouldn't have to worry about Gray and Juvia, but she was still concerned. Without a second thought, she followed Natsu out of her room.

Lucy caught him just as he was entering the garage, his footsteps echoing on the grey stone floor. "Are you going to Magnolia?"

"Yeah, I want you to stay here with Evelyn," he answered without even looking at her.

"Natsu let us come with you. It's safer for us that way. If someone attacks the house I can't defend us and Evelyn certainly can't. Besides," her eyes softened, "I want to help." Through the dim light of the garage, Lucy could see his head tilt up, almost like he was praying, before gazing at her.

"Fine, let me go get her," he consented and she heard more than saw him go upstairs to his sister's room. Lucy stood in silence until she saw Happy float through the air towards her.

"Lucy," he yawned, "what's going on?" Lucy stretched out her arms while Happy curled up contently in them.

"Natsu got a message from Gray saying that he and Juvia were in danger. Natsu had wanted to leave the three of us behind while he went to Magnolia to deal with it. But he's letting all of us come with him," Lucy explained as she stroked his blue fur.

"There are guest rooms in the building," the cat mumbled, "maybe we can sleep there."

"Maybe," Lucy agreed softly.

When Natsu reemerged with Evelyn sleeping peacefully in his arms, he said in a soft voice, "good, Happy's coming with us. Let's go. As much as I hate him, Erza will skin me alive if I let anything happen to Gray." On the drive there, Natsu was resting his head against the windows, trying to get comfortable while Lucy was content to look at the sky through the window. It gave her no shortage of joy that Natsu lived far away from the city so there were clear views of the stars almost every night when it wasn't cloudy.

"If worst comes to worst and we need to go, would you want to come?" Natsu asked, although his eyes stayed closed. Lucy tried not to look offended.

"Of course I'd want to go! You're the one always saying I need 'more experience.'" Natsu chuckled. "Have you been to the house there before?" Lucy asked and she could see through the moonlight filtering in through the window that he shook his head.

"The only beach house I've seen is the one on Tenrou Island," Natsu answered. "You'll love it there. And you _have_ to see Magnolia's cherry blossom trees when they bloom. That'll be coming up soon too." Lucy had heard about Magnolia's famous cherry blossom trees, how at night something in the petals caused them to be colored like rainbows. It was a sight she had seen before in pictures, rainbow petals had been floating through the air before dropping into the canal so the water itself seemed to shimmer with a rainbow light.

"I've always wanted to see that," she admitted. "And now I'll finally get to. I had asked, almost every year but…" she trailed and off Natsu already knew how the sentence was going to end. "Tell me about the house on Tenrou," Lucy prompted and Natsu didn't need any encouragement to tell stories about weeks spent under the hot summer sun, snorkeling, having campfires, jumping off of rocks into the ocean, and sand-castle building contests.

"We also have a place on Mount Hakobe that we go to sometimes in the Spring. If there's still snow when we get back we could go visit," Natsu had added and Lucy nodded enthusiastically. Going up to the mountains sounded like fun, seeing as she had never been there before. Once again, envy swept through her but she pushed it back. She had no reason to be envious because she was there now. Now she could join her new friends on all of their adventures.

The rest of the ride continued in a comfortable silence. They arrived at the tower faster than they normally did due to the lack of traffic on the roads. Among all the pinpricks of light cast from the skyline of Magnolia the Fairy Tail symbol seemed to glow with the red light that illuminated it.

As they entered the city Evelyn slowly woke up. Panic seized her for a moment before seeing a mop of pink hair in the moonlight and calmed down. If Natsu was there, everything had to be fine. "Natsu?"

"Evie," he smiled warmly as his adopted sister stretched and yawned. "We're going to HQ. Gray messaged me saying they were in a bit of trouble so we're going to go get in touch with some people now. You can go sleep in the guest rooms if you want. Lucy will stay with you if you want to do that." Natsu shot Lucy a glance that kept her quiet. He wasn't giving her a choice, she was staying with Evelyn if his sister decided she wanted to go back to sleep. She shook her head.

"I'll stay up with you, I'm fine with it."

When they entered the building, they all filed into the elevator and Natsu noted with some smugness, that the music had changed. Good, he would have to go back through the camera feed from the elevator and see if Gajeel changed it back to jazz. Because if he had, his mission was complete. The halls were dimly lit when they got off on a floor and went straight to a video conference room.

"I'm calling Jellal first. There's less of a chance of them attacking me for calling them in the middle of the night."

"I'm guessing that happened before?" Lucy questioned and Natsu grimaced.

"Hibiki hates it when someone wakes him up from his 'beauty sleep', his words not mine," was all Natsu grumbled in response. Evelyn giggled and shook her head.

"He was livid," she recalled. "I'm pretty sure if the others hadn't been there he would have given you a black eye." He tapped something into the tablet on the table and a video call request popped up on the wall in front of us.

"Natsu?" a sleepy voice answered. A dark shape was fumbling in the video and Jellal's face was illuminated as he turned on whatever light source he was looking for. "What are you calling for?"

"Gray and Juvia ran into some trouble at Akane," not bothering with pleasantries as Natsu filled the bluenette on what had happened. "I was wondering if you could send in Meredy and Ultear to be with them. I'm considering calling Lyon and the others if need be but I want the situation to be assessed first." Natsu shivered even though the room was warm. "Lyon will never forgive me if I put Juvia in a dangerous situation." Jellal gave a half-smile and stood up.

"Understood, they can get there tomorrow morning with no trouble. We'll keep in touch," and with that the screen went blank.

"Well that went over easily enough," Evelyn yawned. "Can we go back to sleep now?"

Later in the afternoon, although the sun was still high in the sky, Natsu got another call except this time it was from Ultear. "How is everything?" Natsu immediately asked and Gray's cousin wasted no time informing that they believed it was Tartaros chasing after them and that they wanted people from Fairy Tail as soon as possible. "Ok then, we can take the helicopter. See you soon." He already knew who he would take. As much as it pained him, he would leave Evelyn behind, he didn't want her anywhere near a potentially life-threatening fight and he could leave her here under the care of Laxus and his friends. He would take Mirajane since she had encountered Seilah before and of course Erza, Lucy, Wendy, and Gajeel. While he was on it, he might as well call Sting and see if some people could come over from Saber and he would ask Lamia Scale too. After retreating up to his office and making calls, he reemerged from the elevator an hour later, ready to make his announcement and content with his plans.

"Lucy, Wendy, Erza, Gajeel, Mirajane we're going to Akane. Gray and Juvia are in trouble. Lamia and Saber are meeting us there. We're taking the helicopter, be ready within half an hour."


	27. Chapter 27

**Hey guys! I'm back with another kind of short chapter but I'm happy with it. This kind of goes in a lot of different directions but I think it's fine. Enjoy!**

The airplane trip was casual and hectic. Gajeel and Natsu were constantly fighting over the music that was playing through the speakers. To Lucy's surprise, Erza and Mira were arguing ferociously over something, Lucy didn't know what it was and she really didn't want to stick her head in the middle of that fight. Wendy was sleeping deeply, blissfully ignoring the chaos around her. Like so many other transportation modes, the airplane could direct itself. There was a mechanism that was in place so the exterior mirrored the sky so no one would be able to see it. On the inside, black leather chairs were lined up against the walls. A panel on the wall controlled the music and destination, which Natsu and Gajeel were fighting for control over. A mini-fridge and microwave were in the back corner and a small restroom was in the opposite corner. Lucy was sipping on a strawberry-flavored soda while she watched Mirajane and Erza trade insults while Natsu finally had had enough of his cousin's retaliations because he punched his jaw.

"Boys, you better not be fighting," Erza called and Natsu snickered.

"I could say the same thing about you," he taunted. "You and Mira haven't argued like that in years; talk about acting like children." Too late, he realized what he had said and was scrambling to redeem himself. "It was just a joke Erza, you know that. You never act like a child, why would you?" he rambled. Something he said must have appeased the redhead because she went back to drinking water and eating a slice of cake, ignoring the dirty looks Mirajane was throwing her.

"I thought they were friends," Lucy said to Natsu when he settled in the empty seat next to her, being tired of fighting Gajeel.

"They had a huge rivalry when they were younger. Fighting for the spot as the strongest female in Fairy Tail, you know?" Natsu explained with a small smile. "That time was the best."

"I'm sorry we had to leave Evelyn behind," Lucy changed the subject abruptly. "It must have been difficult to be away from her." Natsu just shrugged.

"If she had come with us I would have just worried. It's better this way." He looked confident but she knew him well enough to know that he was faking it, that he was concerned about his little sister. "She'll be fine." It sounded like he was trying to convince himself.

When the airplane landed they were greeted with the scent of salt and the sounds of seagulls. As they exited the plane, Lucy noticed that the plane was parked on a strip of asphalt covered in sand. Despite the good weather in Magnolia, the sky was now overcast. The humidity was almost tangible and the thick air pressed against Lucy's skin in a way that made her want to be inside. "It's going to storm later," Wendy murmured and Mirajane and Gajeel nodded in agreement.

"Wendy has a talent for telling when the weather changes," Natsu whispered as they followed a twisting cement path that had a layer of sand dusting over it. We'll go in through the back door and scare the shit out of them," Natsu grinned. "I can't wait to see Gray's face!" He sounded too gleeful about this. Lucy looked up at the sky and had a bad feeling.

The four of them were all looking at each other, talking and having their backs away from the clear glass door. Natsu pressed his face against the glass and let out a shrill shriek. Meredy fell out of her chair while Gray and Juvia jumped up and looked ready to fight. Ultear was the only one unaffected and opened the door.

Natsu leaned against the wall still laughing maniacally as everyone caught their breath. "You're such a bastard," Gray spat, trying to look as dignified as he could after such a high-pitched yelp.

"We're sorry, we didn't mean for him to do that. It was very spontaneous," Mirajane smiled sweetly. "It's great to see you guys again, it's been a while." Mira hugged both Meredy and Ultear and Wendy did so too.

"It's good to see you two again," Natsu greeted after he finished laughing. "I just wish it was under better circumstances."

"Jellal misses you," Meredy told Erza and the redhead blushed. Mirajane cooed in the background and Erza knew the white-haired she-demon was going to use that against her later for one reason or another.

"Has anything important or concerning happened recently?" Erza inquired, trying to change the topic and succeeding. Juvia shook her head.

"No, nothing out of the ordinary. Well except the first night we were here. Gray said that the security system kicked in because someone approached the house. We don't know who it was though. But we've been going to sleep with the whole house in lockdown so no one can get in." Erza nodded her head.

"That's good. Maybe we can look back at the security cameras and see who triggered the alarm?" Erza suggested.

"That sounds like a good idea, maybe we can work out a strategy," Natsu suggested.

"Can we go to the beach?" Wendy pleaded with her older cousin. "Please Natsu? We haven't been to the beach since last summer on Tenrou." Wendy normally wasn't whiny and she generally never asked for anything. This must have been special. Gajeel followed Natsu's gaze through the glass doors that lead to the sea. The grey sky was reflected on the water that was now churning due to wind that whipped off the water.

"I don't think that's a good idea kid," Gajeel said, breaking the news to her that they would be not going to the beach. "The water's too rough."

"So security footage?" Lucy prompted. Gray lead them downstairs after putting the mansion in lockdown mode so they would be safe while they were going over video footage in the bunker. Like the technology rooms back in Magnolia, the floors were metal and a large table was in the center of the room. Gray navigated through menus displayed in the air. The footage was eerie. The only light was that cast by the lanterns outside the house and then a person arrived on the yard.

"Stop and zoom in," Natsu commanded and he sounded…nervous. Like this was unsettling him. Lucy could understand why but she noticed that his knuckles were going white. The only thing they could see was blonde hair and Natsu swore violently. "Fuck!"

"Do you know who that is?" Lucy asked and Natsu nodded.

"Fucking Jackal," he growled. "So we are dealing with Tartaros." He exhaled deeply and tried to calm himself. "Ok, I don't want to stay here anymore. Not because they're stationed in Akane, but because I want to be with everyone else if they do attack."

"We have room on the plane, so we can go back now." Juvia's eyes widened and she gasped.

"Natsu's right, I think this was a distraction. Something to have our focus somewhere else while they go to Magnolia or somewhere else." When they resurfaced from the bunker, they could hear rain hitting the roof.

"We need to move fast and get to the plane now," Ultear said and her voice left no room for argument. They ran through the rain and the wind, the sea that had been calm and blue the previous day was now grey and violent. Dark clouds were rolling in and when they made it to plane, thunder starting rumbling in the sky.

Natsu punched in the coordinates and put in some sort of storm-flying mode. The ride back had none of the energy that the initial flight had. Ultear was getting Jellal up to speed on what was happening and he promised that he would see what they could do from where they were to slow them down. Then he contacted Laxus and told him their suspicions. The giant blonde just nodded and said that they would begin preparations for defending Magnolia. Then came the calls to the allies. Erza talked with Lamia Scale to spare Gray from having to deal with his cousin and Gray talked with Blue Pegasus because if any of the girls did they would get nowhere. Gajeel and Natsu talked with Sabertooth and Sting promised that they would go to Magnolia as soon as possible to help. The other gangs promised the same.

"They can't cut off access to the city right?" Wendy asked, biting her lip.

"They shouldn't be able to," Gajeel replied from where he was leaning against the wall.

"Everyone should try to get some sleep, who knows when we'll have the opportunity to sleep again," Erza suggested. Lucy jumped when a large hand was on her shoulder.

"Hey don't worry," Natsu soothed her. "I won't let anything happen to you." Lucy felt her face become a lovely shade of pink and nodded. She believed him, but that didn't stop her from worrying. "Erza's right, you need to get some sleep."

"You should too," Lucy murmured. His jaw clenched but he nodded and tilted his head back so it rested on the leather seat. He exhaled slowly and closed his eyes. Lucy felt bad for him. He was young, not even twenty, and he had to deal with the lives of hundreds of people. He didn't deserve to be this stressed. He had lost his father and lost his sister for year. She followed Natsu's lead and rested her head back and closed her eyes.

Complete chaos had ensued after Natsu's call. The building was going into lockdown. Titanium sheets had slid down to cover the windows, the lights at the top of the building had shut off, and everyone was scrambling for weapons. Warren had gotten in contact with Magnolia's mayor and had called for a citywide evacuation 'ASAP'. All of their allies were currently en route and leaving some people to try and slow down Tartaros's forces. All of the lights had been dimmed so they could barely see in front of them.

"Evelyn, you shouldn't fight," Levy was trying to tell Natsu's adoptive sister. "If you get hurt, Natsu's never going to forgive himself! We just got you back!"

"I'm going to fight!" she yelled back. The elevator dinged and every head whipped towards the elevator door.

"Damn, you guys go all out when it comes to security don't you?" Sting questioned drily when he and Rogue stepped through the threshold. "We left Minerva, Yukino, Rufus, and Orga going to the weapons room to try and help organize everything."

"How did you get here before us?" Natsu's voice rang through the darkness as he and his group stepped through the elevator. "Thanks for coming guys."

"Anything for my baby cousin," Sting teased and if the situation hadn't been so serious, Natsu would have punched him.

"We left some of the others to try and slow them down and give us more time. Currently Ichiya and the others and are ready with Christina to do aerial combat with them since they have the cube," Rogue listed and Natsu nodded. "Lamia Scale is on the way," he added as an afterthought.

"The people are evacuating Magnolia as we speak," Warren said and Natsu nodded.

"Thank Mavis. Where's Evelyn?"

"I'm here. They're saying I can't fight!" Natsu bit his lip.

"And they're right. You're not strong enough yet, not to fight against Tartaros. Sit this one out, please," Natsu pleaded and Evelyn shook her head.

"Evie, Natsu's right," Sting agreed gently. "You still need time to recover. We want you to fight but we can't be worried about you."

"You can stay with some other people. If they breach the building we need someone to fight them," Rogue reasoned and Evelyn pouted. There was an explosion outside and everyone met each other's eyes.

Freed ran out from the elevator, the rest of the Thunder Legion at his heels. "Natsu, they're here."


	28. Chapter 28

**Hey guys! I'm back! Thanks for being so patient, I had AP testing this week and now that it's over I can finally get back to writing. Just to sort of be a reference, I got the ideas for the technology from the** ** _Uglies_** **series (ex: the network communicators are similar to eye screens and the city interface just on a smaller scale) If you haven't read it, it's really good and I strongly recommend it. Anyways, enjoy and I'll see you later!**

If someone were to look up at the sky in Magnolia, they wouldn't see the inky black sky illuminated with city lights. No, instead it looked like an alien invasion. Tartaros's giant, flying cube dominated the sky. Erza had practically commanded that everyone wear black and no one disagreed. It made sense, it was dark outside and it'd be easier to hide in the shadows of buildings. Gray squinted up at the giant airship, Ultear and Meredy with him.

"Our first goal should be to kill the engine. If that goes down then it'll be easier to fight," Ultear observed, thinking back to Grimoire Heart's giant airship.

"We should also target Hell's Core," Minerva added from where she was standing next to Sting. "They have regenerating technology and if we destroy that the nine demon gates can't heal. They've been so genetically engineered that that's what they rely on. It'd be _unfortunate_ if they could no longer regenerate." She shared a knowing smirk with Sting and he nodded.

"Minerva, you should go with Erza and try to find Kyouka," Rogue suggested. "You know her better than any of us."

"Shall we?" Minerva tossed her dark hair behind her shoulder and looked at Erza.

"It _has_ been a while since we've fought together," Erza gave a sinister smile that Minerva reflected easily. Lucy shivered at the bloodlust in their faces. She could see how they would be a good match for a demon.

"Mira, you go find Seilah. You've fought her before and you've gotten a lot stronger since then," Natsu ordered and Mira nodded.

"Good luck Mira!" Lucy called as she ran after Minerva and Erza. "Um Natsu? How are they going to get on the airship in the first place?" Natsu paused and frowned.

"Oh I hadn't thought of that," he admitted with a sheepish grin. Gajeel rolled his eyes and Sting just smirked.

"Most of the guards still think Minerva's one of them," Rogue explained "as for Mira she'll just have to get caught." Natsu looked up at the cube and his frown deepened.

"We're going to have to find a way up there if we want to be of any help," he murmured, mostly to himself. "Sting, if I leave you guys on the ground, you'll be ok right?" Rogue nodded.

"We'll be defending the city on the ground," Natsu's cousin replied. "We'll keep them busy down here."

"You guys are the best," Natsu praised. "Lucy, Gray, come with me. If you die I'll kill you Sting!" Natsu yelled over his shoulder at his cousins.

"Come back in one piece Dragneel!" Sting hollered back as he ran in the opposite direction

Natsu, despite the situation, smiled. That had been their own strange way of wishing each other good luck for years. Natsu watched as Sting and Rogue jogged down the street where there was a lot of yelling and gunfire.

"Come on, we don't have any time to waste," Natsu said grimly and he looked back up at the airship, one last time before he sighed.

"We've got this Natsu," Gray clapped his friend/rival on the shoulder. Natsu tried to smile, but it looked like he was in pain. With that they picked up their pace towards the giant airship dominating the sky over their city.

Evelyn paced around the nearly empty room and wished she could stare out the windows, which were covered with sheets of titanium. She could barely hear the yelling and gunfire in the streets below. Alzack and Bisca were sitting with their guns slung over their shoulders. They had sent Asuka to be with Romeo in another room, higher up. Cana was lounging on a barstool fidgeting restlessly and throwing glances at the covered windows.

"If you want to go Cana, then you can go. They'll probably need more fighters anyway," Bisca said and Cana stood up.

"Are you sure?" When Bisca nodded Cana walked over to the elevator. "Stay safe you guys."

"I want to be out there!" Evelyn yelled once Cana had left the room.

"Natsu just wants to protect you," Alzack said, as he shifted to put his arm around his wife. "You're not strong enough yet to fight in something like this." Evelyn gritted her teeth. She knew deep down that he was right, all of them were. She still woke up with nightmares and she was still bone thin although her face was no longer pale and her voice no longer hoarse.

"I still want to _do_ something," she whined. No one responded. Evie glanced longingly at the covered windows and, not for the first time, regretted getting on that train to Crocus a year ago.

"Who's there?" a Tartaros guard barked into the dark, hearing footsteps clanging on the metal floor.

"No need to worry," Minerva's voice had turned cold, a contrast to the one she had used outside with Sting, Rogue, and the others. "I just found one of those Fairies trying to get onto our ship. I'm bringing her to Kyouka now, so it'd be wise to stay out of my way." The authority in her voice worked. The guard lowered his gun and stepped aside.

"My apologies," he bowed deeply as they strode by. Minerva kept an iron-like grip on Erza's wrist as she pulled her into a dimly lit hallway. Erza pulled out a small tablet and held it up towards the metal ceiling.

"Is that some kind of transmitter?" Minerva asked.

"In a sense, it'll cut off all of the cameras and recorders so we won't be seen or heard. Hibiki, Gray, Levy, and Rufus all collaborated on it a while ago for scenarios exactly like this," Erza clarified. She flicked a button on the device and pocketed it again.

"We'll try to scout out the rest of the ship and then head to Hell's Core," Minerva planned.

"I'd like to try and find Mirajane as well," Erza added and Minerva scowled.

"We don't have the luxury of time Erza," Minerva retorted. "I'm not going to go running around the Cube to try and find her."

"If she's not in a cell we can go," Erza negotiated. "She'd be valuable to have on our team."

"If we get caught for this I'll murder you," Minerva spit out but she didn't offer any other resistance. "But I do agree, she would be a good fighter." Minerva grabbed Erza's wrist again and they started walking back down the hallway heading to the cells where, hopefully, they would find Mira.

Unfortunately, Natsu's team didn't fare as well. They were caught almost instantly and their weapons were taken away. The stony-faced guards lead them down cold, metal hallways and staircases until they reached a corridor that was similar to the SC ward at Era's prison. Thankfully, they were all thrown in together so at least they weren't separated. "Any bright ideas Natsu?" Gray asked sarcastically. "It's not like we can get out on our own without weapons." Natsu would have been reluctant to talk about plans openly but he knew Erza had already reached the ship and had probably activated the signal jammer that he gave her.

"Maybe we can," Lucy murmured, an idea slowly formulating in her mind. If this was anyplace like Era's prison, the glass would be sensitive to touch and pressure. Both boys looked at her in surprise.

"What's your idea then, Lucy?" Gray asked and Natsu punched his shoulder.

"Stop being an asshole and let her talk," he commanded and Gray scowled but stayed quiet.

"The glass is probably pressure-sensitive right?" was all she said and her companion's faces lit up. Natsu grinned and immediately started punching the glass as hard as he could. Gray joined in and soon enough lights were flashing and alarms were blaring, making Natsu step back and cover his ears. It wouldn't be good for him if he went deaf because of something stupid like this.

Two lightly armed guards ran up and went to open the door to the cell. When the first one stepped through, Natsu whipped out his foot and the guard tripped, his gun skittering over the floor and blood dripping from his nose. Lucy lunged for it and to her relief saw that it didn't shoot bullets; it was probably just a stun gun. Running on pure adrenaline she shot a tranquilizer at the other guard who was going to draw his weapon. The dart hit his stomach and he collapsed on the ground. Gray drew the stunned guard's weapon and shot it at the other guard's knee, barely noticing the spurt of blood and the pained cry that the bullet elicited.

"Let's go, we need to be out of this area in the next minute before we get swamped," Natsu advised and the trio ran down the hallway.

"We need to find a weapon room before we can go anywhere," Gray replied. "We can't do shit if we don't have any weapons." Natsu silently agreed and talked into his network communicator that the guards foolishly had missed.

"Can anyone upload the blueprints of the Cube?" he asked nobody in particular.

"Sending you the images now." Hibiki's voice came over the communicator and Natsu breathed a sigh of relief. Of _course_ Hibiki somehow had the blueprints. He seemed to have access to every bit of information available to the world.

"Thanks Lates," Natsu spoke, gratitude in his voice. Through the communicator, in his mind, he saw the blueprints.

"This whole place is a damn maze," Gray grumbled as the three ran through the seemingly endless corridors before Natsu halted outside a door. He swore under his breath.

"Hibiki, can you override the security system? The damn door is locked," Natsu sighed. Lucy didn't see why he was surprised. If everything in Fairy Tail was kept under lock and key she wasn't surprised everything in Tartaros was either. Lucy, who didn't have a network communicator yet, could only assume that Hibiki got access into the security network because the Tartaros insignia engraved on the metal door glowed blue as the doors slid apart. Like the weapon storage room in Fairy Tail, all the weapons were hung up on the walls, more dangerous ones were kept in glass cases. It only took a moment for Natsu to find basket with their weapons, somewhat insulted that they were just tossed into a bin with no precautions.

"These guards are amateurs," Gray scoffed as he took his ice blast gun and slid it back into its holster.

"Those 'amateurs' also report to the nine demon gates," Natsu reminded. "If they think something's wrong and decide to report to any of the gates we're screwed." Gray rolled his eyes at Natsu's theatrics even though he knew the pinkette was right.

"If you two are done," Lucy interrupted, "we need to leave this room. Now." Gray muttered something under his breath that no one caught and Natsu once again lead them out of the room and into the tangle of metal hallways.

Mirajane's endeavor to get onto the Cube were better than Natsu's group. She easily escaped from her guard and looked at the blueprints that had been uploaded to the network communicator. She remembered that Minerva and Erza had been told to destroy Hell's Core, so she figured that was where she should go. They were probably there and the three of them would be a tough team to beat.

The lack of activity in the cold halls bothered her, but she didn't have the time to worry about it. Mira had the sinking suspicion that her bad luck would run out sooner rather than later. Her knife was still with her and even if that was lost, she still had hand-to-hand combat. But Seilah was still a force to be reckoned with.

Mirajane remembered the first time she encountered the demon gate. She was doing a job somewhere near Era where, according to Jellal's sources, Tartaros was planning an assault on the government buildings. It had been after dark and she was hiding in the shadows, a black hood pulled over her head to cover her white hair. She had seen that Seilah was alone and she had attacked. Mira had been younger and infinitely more arrogant. She had won, but barely. Seilah's words of "you and I are alike, both demons in the form of humans," still haunted her to the present. Unfortunately, Seilah was right. Mira had always been the odd one out, seeming so peaceful when she lived for fighting and adrenaline rushes. She hated that the Tartaros member was right and knew something so personal about her. Ever since that day, she swore to get stronger so the next time they crossed paths she'd come out victorious and less harmed than she had been.

A sudden fear for Lisanna and Elfman flitted across her mind but she ignored it. There wasn't room for error and worrying over something she had no control over could cost her her life. She continued going down corridors until she reached the door that lead to Hell's Core. When the door slid open she froze. There was a reason why there had been no sign of the demons before then.

Seilah and Lamy were casually leaning against a tank filled with fluid like they were expecting her to come there all along.


	29. Chapter 29

**Hey guys! Another update is here for you. Unforunately I'm still stuck in school but I've started working on stories for nalu week! I'm really happy with the first one I wrote. Anyways enjoy and your reviews make me happy!**

Seilah opened her eyes, a bored expression on her face. But she was always like that. Lamy was visibly shaking with excitement. "Can I change her appearance Seilah? There are so many things I want to do to her; she's too pretty! Maybe scales?" As Lamy was fantasizing about ways to change her appearance Mirajane took in her surroundings. The fluid filling the tanks was emitting a blue light that made the room have an eerie feel to it.

"Not yet Lamy," Seilah said softly. "We need to see what our leader wants from them. However," she continued a slight smile creeping up on her face, "he didn't say anything about them being unhurt when they're brought to him." Mira grit her teeth and raised her chin.

"I'm not going anywhere," she defied and Seilah just gave a small, almost lazy smirk.

"We'll see about that, she-devil," was all she said before the doors slid open behind her.

"Well this is convenient," Erza announced and Mira couldn't help but relax.

"What are you doing here, Minerva?" Seilah questioned with a tilt of her head. Her small smile seemed to indicate that she knew whatever was going on but was waiting for confirmation of her beliefs.

"I was planning on bringing the Fairy here to turn her. She'd be a perfect specimen, wouldn't she?" Erza tensed and tried to jerk her elbow into Minerva's stomach, keeping up the act that had protected them thus far on the cube.

"There's no need to lie, Minerva. I was aware of your treachery a long time ago." She sighed, "unfortunately none of the other Gates believed me. Such a sad ending to your story, but it was more interesting than most." She pushed away from the tube she was leaning against and stood up. "Well, time to go bring them to the King of the Underworld."

"Do we know where we're going?" Lucy asked, not for the first time, as the group of three went running down hallways and corridors of metal. She had lost track of where they were and what turns they had taken in the tangle of metal hallways. Everything looked the same, which didn't help.

"Kind of?" Natsu answered. "Hibiki uploaded the layout to the network communicators so we have an idea."

"Our main goal is to find what makes this thing fly and destroy it. There's an engine room near the center of this thing. If we can get there, I'm sure we can destroy this," Gray added, confident in his response. Lucy smiled a little but she wasn't reassured. The fact that they hadn't run into anyone other than the guards shook her.

"What's wrong Lucy?" Natsu asked, risking a glance back at her grim face.

"Nothing's happened. It should be a good thing, but…" she trailed off. "Nothing's happened," she repeated. "Something bad is going to happen soon." No one responded to her. Lucy bit her lip and looked down at the metal floor they were running on.

"Turn left," Gray instructed and the other two obeyed. "Hey Hibiki, can you put up our location?"

"On it," the hacker complied and a blinking red dot popped up on the map inside their heads.

"When can _I_ get a network communicator?" she whined. Lucy hadn't spoken like that in a while, not since her mother died. However, she got the feeling that Natsu had acted that way as a child and at this point he would probably give her one once this whole ordeal was over. Natsu and Gray shared a glance and laughed together.

"Soon, I promise," Natsu chuckled, despite the serious situation. The group reached an intersection.

"How predictable," someone barked out a laugh from the darkness of one of the hallways. "It's been a while, Gray Fullbuster," the man said as he emerged into the light. Gray and Natsu exchanged confused looks.

"How do you know who I am?" Gray demanded.

"He smells like you, Gray," Natsu observed. The man just gave an amused snicker.

"And that's all you need to know." He hefted a gun aimed at Gray. Too quick, a dart pricked Gray's shoulder.

"What the hell? What do you want with him?" Natsu yelled as he rushed over to his fallen friend. Another shot echoed from the opposite side of the intersection and Lucy felt herself falling to the floor. She looked up confused only to see that Natsu had pushed her to the ground.

"Your friend will be ok, for the moment." The last words were added as an afterthought. Another figure emerged from a hallway and stood at the entrance. "You however, will not be so fortunate." He gave a demented grin.

"Don't forget the King's orders Franmalth, he wants them to be able to talk to answer questions." With a final smirk, the man dragged Gray along the ground and into the darkness of the corridor.

Natsu pulled back and sat up. "You ok?" he asked Lucy who was just sitting up as well.

"Yeah, just catching my breath."

"Are you ready to fight?" A manic gleam appeared in Natsu's eyes at the prospect of having a fight against a challenging opponent. Lucy gave a smile in return, slightly scared of the bloodlust in his eyes. She wasn't scared for herself, she knew he wouldn't hurt her. But what it meant for the others, she didn't want to think about what he might do. Especially if they made him angry.

"Do we know how many of these guys are left?" Sting yelled to anyone who cared to answer.

"Too many," Gajeel yelled back. "These bastards aren't letting up!"

"They're starting to get annoying," Rogue agreed as he kicked someone from Tartaros in the stomach. Gunshots and yelling ricocheted off the walls of the buildings, filling the quiet streets.

"Is Tartaros really this big?" Wendy asked as she backed up to where Gajeel, Sting, and Rogue were.

"No, these are all smaller groups that have pledged their loyalty to Tartaros," Rogue explained as he calmly punched another enemy in the throat. The soldier went down gasping for breath and clutching his throat.

"You doing ok Wendy?" Sting hollered over the surrounding noise. Natsu would murder him if he let her get hurt and he didn't want to die just yet. When she got closer he could see blood trickling from a shallow cut on her shoulder and aside from some bruising she looked ok.

"Yeah, I'm doing fine. Has anyone else arrived yet?" she asked and Sting shrugged before he shot a bolt of light at someone getting them square through the shoulder. A shout of agony left his mouth as blood splattered against the clean cobblestones that were the trademark of Magnolia's historic district. It was even more ominous since all of the lamps that lined the street were darkened. Glass shattered somewhere in the background and Wendy winced. Even if the mayor had issued an evacuation it didn't make up for the fact that the light red, almost pink, bricked buildings were going to be damaged from this fight. Thousands of people made their living working in the historical district. How long was it going to be before they could go back to work? Wendy shook her head. Worrying was fine, but not in the middle of a fight. She couldn't afford to be distracted if she wanted to live, not until this fight was over.

A wave of cheers rose from some of the Fairy Tail and Sabertooth members and Wendy looked up, squinting into the sky to see what everyone was pointing at. Even with her enhanced sight she just barely made out the white Blue Pegasus insignia printed on the black metal of their airship, the Christina. Wendy grinned, happy that reinforcements had come so soon. More yelling filled the air as Rufus and Gajeel tried to direct people away from the part of the street where the airship was trying to land. Wendy noticed that some of their enemies were shooting at it but it was pointless. The Christina was built of light titanium, something so durable it was almost impossible to break with bullets.

As the members alighted off the ship the light from the interior caught on two girls, both with pink hair. Wendy was positively beaming and sprinted forward to reach Chelia.

"Chelia!" Wendy yelled and Chelia gave a grin in her best friend's direction. The two hugged each other acting like nothing was going on around them. "How have you been?"

"All of us were sleeping when Natsu called," the pinkette explained with a yawn. "I got to sleep but Hibiki, Ren, Eve, and Ichiya didn't get to, they'd been up the entire time. But," she added quickly, "all of us are ready. The rest of Lamia Scale is here too."

"Take the other half of the city. We have this covered," Rogue ordered and Chelia nodded.

"C'mon Wendy! Let's go!" Wendy gave one more glance at her cousins as her and Chelia's feet tracked blood through the ordinarily pristine streets.

Gray woke up with a pounding headache. Based on the startlingly cold floor, he guessed that it was metal. As his eyes opened, Gray noticed the same man who had crossed them leaning against a metal wall.

"Where am I? Where are Lucy and Natsu?" Gray asked, his mouth feeling like sandpaper.

"You're still on the Cube. Your friends, as far as I know, are still alive. Although whether they'll still be in one piece after they fight Franmalth is a different question." The man snickered at the last thought. "They're tough, but can they take on a demon gate?" Gray struggled to sit up, his body still weak from whatever tranquilizer the person standing in front of him had used.

"Who are you?" Gray inquired as he started to grasp the situation.

"The person who's going to kill you. But I guess before I do that, you deserve an honest answer." Gray snorted and glared at the person holding him captive.

"I'm the person who destroyed your home." That cruel smirk on his face seemed permanent now. Gray stopped breathing. Not really, but he had no initial reaction. It took a moment for the words to sink in. He was face to face with the person responsible for destroying his village, the person who was responsible for killing Ur. Red clouded his vision, he went to lunge but he was still too weak to fight. Gray stumbled back and leaned against a metal wall. His heart was thundering and he realized he was shaking, whether it was with anger or something else he didn't know. What he did know is that he wanted to wipe the smirk off of this man's face.

"I'm going to kill you!" Gray yelled. The smirk never left.

"If you can stand up then I'd be more than happy to fight you, Gray Fullbuster." Gray grit his teeth and snarled. He couldn't see past the rage-induced haze that the man's words, _Deliora's_ words, had put him in. With a growl he launched himself at Deliora. His enemy just swatted him away like he was nothing but a fly.

"I'm a demon gate. Do you really think you can beat me by yourself?" Deliora laughed as Gray threw another punch. "Once I kill you I'll go find the rest of your friends. Starting with, what's his name…Lyon Vastia?" Gray froze and he heard Lyon's voice over the network communicator.

"Gray? Who are you talking to?" In his mind, Gray was swearing violently at Lyon and he hoped the words went through the communicator to him. He didn't need Lyon jabbering in his ear when he was fighting a demon gate.

"And after him I'll find Ur's daughter," Deliora continued and Gray finally spoke.

"Why are you doing this? Why are you hunting them?"

"Because I want to eradicate that witch Ur's legacy. And I can only do that by killing her nephews and daughter." He had gained a manic gleam in his eye and if Gray hadn't been so enraged he might have been scared. It wasn't natural and he could see why he was one of the nine demon gates. He looked downright terrifying.

"I don't care if you kill me," Gray stated. "But I'm not letting you leave so you can hurt more people."

"Oh really? You can barely stand, how are you going to stop me from leaving?" Gray grit his teeth. Unfortunately the man had a point. He was still a bit drowsy from the tranquilizer. He made a mental note to find what it was and talk to Wendy about it, once he made it out of this mess. He did a quick scan of the room and realized that his gun was lying in the corner on the opposite side of the room. Unfortunately the demon gate saw it and his smirk seemed to grow.

"I'm not sure how I'll beat you," Gray admitted. "But I will, somehow."

Evelyn was still pacing as the elevator doors slid open. An older woman with pink hair streaked with grey swept through and cast a critical eye over the room. No one was injured and that had to be the only reason Porlyusica was there.

"No one's hurt yet," Evelyn pointed out, which she didn't really need to. "Is there anything I can do to help?" The healer just gave her a threatening look. "Please, I need to do _something_. I can't just sit around, safe and sound, while my brother's out there potentially dying. Please." While Evelyn hated begging she knew she had to do something other than sit around in the tower encased in titanium. Being completely enclosed like this was making her nervous. She had been sleeping with her windows open so she didn't feel like she was trapped. Evelyn knew that if she stayed in there any longer she was going to go crazy. Porlyusica's gaze softened slightly and Evelyn looked at her with helpful eyes.

"Lisanna," the younger Strauss sister looked up. "Go with Evelyn. Try to find anyone severely injured and bring them back."

"Yes!" Evelyn cried and she practically skipped to the elevator, Lisanna hot on her heels. "Let's go Lis!" Evelyn knew she was probably making a mistake. She was still relatively weak compared to how strong she had been the year before she took that damn trip to Crocus. But the thought of being in a fight overpowered any sense of reason. Just waiting in the elevator caused her to have adrenaline coursing through her veins. Lisanna was silent and slid a finger up the slim pistol she had hanging at her waist.

"Are you sure you're ready Evie?"

"If I stayed in that room, doing nothing, while my brother and cousins are out there fighting, I was going to go crazy." She couldn't mention the claustrophobia she now had. Not even Natsu knew. At least she could hold a gun now.

As they stepped outside, the streets were chaos. A thin covering of glass was over the blood that had dripped over the sidewalk. The moonlight caught on it and the shine almost made the sight beautiful, in a grim way. Thankfully, Evelyn was wearing all black so she wasn't as noticeable in the darkness. They crept along in the dark keeping their eyes peeled for anyone that was an ally and was laying on the ground. Thankfully, they didn't see anyone but it was only a matter of time before everyone started getting injured and falling.

Minerva, Erza, and Mirajane all stood together, blocking the door that lead to the hallway. All of them knew that one of the keys to taking down Tartaros was to take down Hell's Core. Lamy was still giggling and talking about transforming all of them although she had expressed disapproval at Minerva's betrayal saying that she "worked too hard trying to make Minerva look pretty." Mirajane had shuddered at the words. Erza was the one who moved first. She shot her gun at one of the glass tanks. Before it could hit its mark, Seilah had just swiped it out of the air. Seilah had been created, like all of the other Gates, to be ultimate weapons so their skin was hardened significantly, they could take multiple hits and still be fine.

"Too slow," Seilah smiled and drew twin pistols from her jumpsuit. She fired them at Mira and she dodged them easily enough. Mira put her regular dart gun back and pulled out one that had been loaded with poison. Nothing that would kill them of course, but could put them in a coma. Mira knew from previous experience fighting Seilah that one of her weakest spots was her next. She could do this in a way that would prevent from killing her but would still be threatening. Seilah's black eyebrows flicked up.

"I've learned a thing or two since our past fight she-devil," Seilah informed coolly. She jutted out her neck. "I'll even let you shoot." Mira narrowed her eyes and shot. True to her word, the dart bounced off and the poison spilled on the floor. The metal floor hissed and an idea struck her. The poison wasn't deadly to humans but she remembered for the chemical write-up it was corrosive to metal. The glass tanks were held in place by a metal frame.

"See? I made Seilah better than she was before!" Lamy enthused and Mirajane resisted in rolling her eyes.

"Then took a last look, because that was the last time you'll recreate her ever again," Mira threatened and her dart struck the metal frame of the glass tank. Blue fluid leaked out of the tank and onto the floor. Before any of the demons could do anything, she turned around and shot the other tanks in rapid succession. Erza, Minerva, and Mira exchanged looks and sprinted through the door. They ran to the end of the hallway and skittered to a halt as a shadow of a woman stretched on the floor.

"Going somewhere?" Kyouka questioned with an arched eyebrow and a smirk on her face.


	30. Chapter 30

**Hey guys! So I'm going to be on vacation as a graduation gift so I'll put this up to keep you entertained for the next week or so. This summer's going to be busy but I'll try to find as much time as I can to write. Anyways, enjoy!**

Erza swore violently and skidded to a halt. "Kyouka," Minerva snarled, absolute hatred gleaming in her eyes. With her time in Tartaros, Minerva developed a strong hate for the black haired, blue-eyed demon. All of the Gates were pompous to the point where their egos were going to blow up the Cube at some point but Kyouka was the worst. Just because she was the Underworld's king confidant and second-in-command she was the best out of all of them. None of the other eight really challenged her, but Minerva hated her for it.

Kyouka's eyes widened as she saw the smoke issuing from the door behind them. "What have you done?" she breathed.

"They destroyed Hells' Core," Seilah explained as she sauntered out of the ruins. "We won't be able to use it anymore." Kyouka hummed before speaking.

"You can have the she-demon Seilah; I know you have unfinished business with her. The other two though," her eyes gained a wicked, sinister gleam, "are coming with me to see our King. He especially wants to speak with you Minerva. But I think I'll play with you first." She drew two syringes from a pocket and both girls tensed. As they went to fight her, Kyouka stuck the two syringes in their arms. Erza felt white-hot pain sear through her body. A scream ripped from her mouth as tears leaked from her eyes. Before she lost consciousness she saw Minerva was faring slightly better than her but was still trembling from an effort to keep from screaming in agony.

"I'm the Gate of Greed, Franmalth." The man in front of Natsu and Lucy had a greenish tinge to his skin and a wide smile that wasn't comforting in the least. Unlike Natsu's large, toothy smile, this one was more sinister and made him seem insane. "The King wants you taken to him but I can have some fun with you first." Natsu jerked his head up in defiance.

"Is this 'King' so lazy he has to have people fight for him?" Natsu snapped and smirked with his question. If anything, Franmalth's smile widened and his eyes became wilder.

"Our King is saving his energy for those that actually pose a threat to him. Not that you'll ever have the opportunity to fight him of course. No one can defeat me." Natsu's jaw clenched.

"I'm getting really tired of your bragging. How about you actually back that up and come fight me instead of running your mouth?" Franmalth's wide eyes narrowed and he gave a sinister grin.

"You'll regret ever challenging me!"

"Then prove it." Lucy had been watching the exchange with bated breath, wincing when Natsu blatantly challenged a _demon Gate_. They engaged in a flurry of fists and kicks. A particularly hard punch had Natsu stumble back and he swore.

"Lucy, cover me!" he yelled and Lucy fumbled to grab her gun from where it was hanging on her belt. Her hands were shaking when she pulled the trigger. Franmalth let out a screech as the bullet pierced his stomach. Lucy noticed, with a small amount of disgust, that Franmalth's blood wasn't even red. It seemed more green than anything else. She remembered what Minerva had said, that they had been so genetically engineered that they were barely human anymore.

"Nice shot Luce!" Natsu crowed as he grabbed his gun, the one that caused oxygen in the gun to be set on fire. Franmalth hissed as he got caught in the full blast. Natsu's nose scrunched as he caught the scent of burning skin. However, Franmalth just gave a deranged laugh.

"You think fire can kill a demon gate?" he taunted. "We've been designed to become immune to things like that."

"Immune or not, your cockiness will be the end of you. You're going to slip up because of your arrogance and we'll be sure to take advantage of it," Lucy defied and Natsu smiled at her. Franmalth giggled. _Giggled_.

"Such brave words for someone like you. Are you ready to kill someone for these so-called friends of yours?" Lucy concealed her fear and confusion at the words reasonably well. "You know they're only using you to get revenge on your father right? After that happens you'll just be—." A sudden blast of fire got Franmalth in his abnormally large mouth.

"Shut the fuck up, bastard," Natsu roared. The demon let out an unholy shriek as he swallowed a mouth full of fire. "Don't listen to anything he says Lucy." Lucy nodded but the words lingered in her mind. What was he going to say? Lucy shook her head. Later. She could deal with it later. A grunt from Natsu tore her out of her thoughts. All she saw was a flash of pink as Natsu got flung against the wall like he was a toy.

"That's what you get for challenging an Etherious demon!" Franmalth cackled. Lucy took a breath and shot him in the knee. A screech of pain echoed through the metal chamber. Natsu winced at the loud noise. Lucy's hands shook and she aimed again.

"You bitch!" Franmlath roared. He drew his gun and fired at the ground right before her feet. Lucy let out a yelp as she was thrown backwards into a wall.

"Lucy!" Natsu yelled as he shot another blast of fire at Franmalth. While the demon gate was coughing from smoke Natsu sprinted over to where Lucy was lying on the ground. He shook her gently repeating her name over and over again. When she didn't reply immediately Natsu began to feel genuine fear. He couldn't lose her. Not now. Not like this. Natsu relaxed when he heard her groan in pain and rub her head.

"That hurt," she murmured. "But I can still fight." Natsu bit his lip but didn't argue. He knew Lucy was just as stubborn as he was and he had no desire to start fighting with her here. After they killed this asshole then maybe they could argue about when she should take a rest and when she shouldn't. But for the mean time they had to work on taking this demon gate out.

Franmalth was still choking on smoke when Natsu ran up and punched him in the throat. When he realized he left his weapon back with Lucy, he whipped his head towards her. "Luce, use my gun!" Lucy blinked at him and went for the weapon he had left on the ground. She aimed at the Gate's stomach and fired.

There was a scream of pain and the stench of burning skin filled the air. Lucy covered her nose and mouth, trying to block out the smoke and acrid smell. She froze when a soft white scarf was wrapped around the lower part of her face.

"You did it Lucy," Natsu praised her. She looked at him with horror in her eyes.

"Did I kill him?" When Natsu nodded in confirmation Lucy didn't have a reaction. Her heart went cold and she swore for a moment it stopped beating. She felt numb.

"Hey," Natsu tilted her head up so she would make eye contact with him. "You did the right thing. He can't hurt anyone anymore and that's what's important." Lucy nodded as she felt tears slipping down her face. She was crying for killing a person who had been a monster. He had been so genetically engineered that he didn't act or look human, so it shouldn't have hurt that much, right? Natsu sighed and stood up, since Lucy had slid to the ground in her state of shock. "Come on, we can talk about this more later." He extended his hand and Lucy took it, taking comfort in how warm and strong it was. She let Natsu help her up and they walked out of the chamber where Franmalth's body was surrounded in a pool of ashes and his green blood.

Erza came back to consciousness and took a moment before she opened her eyes. For some reason unimaginable pain was coursing through her body. Taking a deep breath she focused on something other than the agony that she was in. She realized she was suspended from the ceiling with chains, if the cold metal against her skin was anything to go by. Even the smooth metal caused an ache in her wrists. Like most of the Cube, the room she was in was all metal. From quick glances at the walls, she saw whips, knives, what looked like a jar of rubbing alcohol, as well as an assortment of other weapons. She quickly realized that Mira wasn't with her. Erza started to thrash around and try to see if she could weaken the chains that were holding her to the ceiling, ignoring the pain that laced down her arms.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Kyouka cooed as she entered through the room.

"What did you do with Mira?" Kyouka raised her eyebrows and tilted her head.

"Oh the white-haired girl? I left her with Seilah. They had unfinished business after all." A malicious gleam entered her eye that made Erza immediately want to kill her. "Normally I would go help her, but our King wanted information he believes you have." Erza only tossed her head.

"I'm not telling you anything," she snapped and Kyouka gave a bright smile.

"You say that now, but can you resist giving in when you'll be in so much pain all you'll want is to die? What do you think that injection I gave you was for? It can increase your sensitivity to pain. If you don't cooperate I'll have to give you a higher amount. Now tell me," Kyouka reached for a leather whip that was coiled around a hook on the wall. "Where is Jellal Fernandez?" Erza's scream of pain that followed the crack of the whip ricocheted around the room. Again and again Kyouka asked the question but Erza didn't give in. She couldn't allow herself to.

"Even if I knew," she spat, "I wouldn't tell you." That response earned her a snap of the whip against her cheek. Another scream. "Why do you need him?"

"He has information we want regarding the council in Era," was all Kyouka replied with. Another strike of the whip. Another scream. Kyouka tutted and went to a small refrigerator that was in the room. She pulled out a small bottle filled with clear liquid and loaded it into a syringe. "You brought this upon yourself," she reminded and then injected Erza with another dose of the chemical that would increase her susceptibility to pain. Erza could barely tolerate the pain she was feeling. Every movement, no matter how small, sent fire burning through her veins. She was too tired to scream, or even to talk.

"If you just tell me where Jellal Fernandez is, this could all be over," Kyouka reminded but Erza shook her head. With another crack of the whip, Erza was seeing black and she faded back into unconsciousness.

Gray panted as he blocked another shot from Deliora. "I'm going to kill you," Gray swore again as the demon once again flaunted killing his aunt.

"But Gray, could you kill your own father?" The words served their purpose. Gray froze and slowly made eye contact with the demon standing across from him.

"You can't be my father! He was killed in one of _your_ attacks! Even if you were, you're not father of mine." No, the only father figure in his life was Makarov and he had no idea where the little old man was. Probably holed up in his mansion drinking an excessive amount of whisky or beer. With renewed vigor, Gray slid across the floor and grabbed his gun. The guns Gray liked to use were ones that froze the molecules in front of them, thus turning them effectively into bullets of cold shards of ice. Fortunately, one of his shots took a hit and pierced Deliora's calf. Gray refused to believe that this monster in front of him was his father. He didn't remember much about his father, other than the fact that he had been killed in Deliora's attack. He didn't remember what he looked like, he didn't remember much of anything. However, he remembered feeling warm and cared for, something that Ur and later Fairy Tail had given him as well. It didn't matter now anyway. The past was in the past and he was with Fairy Tail, not in a small town at the foot of Mount Hakobe that had been destroyed. He grit his teeth. He had to focus.

He placed a solid kick against _Deliora's_ stomach but that only caused the demon gate to stumble back. And he had a killer pain in his foot now. Was the guy made of metal? Gray swore under his breath and rolled back to put some distance between himself and the demon he was fighting. Absentmindedly, Gray felt blood trickle down his cheek. He winced at the metallic tang he tasted when blood rolled down his lips. He spat out the blood that was in his mouth on the floor. His mind was moving at the speed of light, trying to figure out a way to take his opponent down.

"You know, if you don't stop me soon I really will go and kill your friends," Deliora taunted. Gray gnashed his teeth together and red coated his vision. "First I'll start with Lyon," and he rattled off the names of the people on his list of he was going to kill. However, this time he added a new name. When Gray heard Deliora mention Juvia he knew he had to do everything he could to beat him.

Juvia was obsessive and drove him crazy on a daily basis but he did invite her to Fairy Tail in the first place two years ago and they did a lot of work together. Over the years, Gray felt like he had become responsible for Juvia and her safety. He rivaled Gajeel in that category.

"If you think I'm going to let you kill her," he snarled, "you're dead wrong." Gray picked up his gun and aimed right for his enemy's stomach.

As soon as she had found out that Gray had gone to the Cube, Juvia took off in that direction, ignoring the yells Meredy to come back and think things through. Getting on was surprisingly easy and Juvia could only assume it was because the guards had more important matters to take care of. Not that she was complaining of course. Her primary concern was finding Gray, and if she couldn't accomplish that she would just fight her way through all of the Gates to find him. This whole situation started with the two of them, they might as well help bring Tartaros to its knees to finish it.

Fighting in large-scale fights wasn't unfamiliar. She had done it a lot in Phantom Lord seeing as she was one of the "element four", their elite group of fighters who represented fire, water, air, and earth. It was in one of those large-scale fights where she met Gray. The two of them had been fighting on the roof of a skyscraper. Naturally it had been raining that day, but that hadn't bothered her. Juvia had been blown away by how skilled Gray was as a fighter, and the fact that he immediately threw off his shirt as they started to fight didn't help. Their fight had lasted at least ten minutes when Gray had delivered a strong punch that had her stumbling back and nearly falling off the edge of the building. Almost instantaneously, she had felt someone pulling her up and setting her down on the cement roof that was cool due to the cloudy sky and rain. Gray had explained that he couldn't let a person fall to their death. Both had sat quietly and then he asked if she would want to join Fairy Tail.

Juvia smiled at the memory, but as much as she wanted to reminisce, she had to focus. This wasn't the time to wonder when exactly she had fallen in love with him. All she knew was that she did and that she would do anything to see him happy and safe, even if it meant sacrificing her life. With that happy thought she continued running through the tangle of metal hallways trying to find Gray.

"Hibiki, can you put up Gray's location?" Juvia asked into the network communicator and waited for a response.

"I'm sorry, he's offline. I can't track him." Juvia felt a shred of fear enter her heart. He could be anywhere and she wouldn't know. She could feel her heartbeat speed up and she actually had to lean against the wall for support. Juvia just had to have faith that Gray's determination and strength was enough to get him out of whatever situation he was in. But that wasn't as comforting as it could have been. Her forehead against the cool metal helped her clear her head. Feeling less emotional she pushed off and continued running through the maze of hallways; she couldn't risk staying in one place for too long.

"I'm afraid I can't let you go any farther," an ominous voice said from the shadows. Juvia's eyes widened as a pale figure dressed all in black seemed to appear out of nowhere. Juvia noticed that it looked like his mouth was stitched up yet he was still able to talk. Her mind sorted through the data Hibiki had compiled on the network communicator and her heart stopped as she made the connection that this was Keyes, one of the nine Gates.

For about ten minutes, Evelyn believed that this was the most fun she had had in years. Being surrounded by all the chaos sparked something within her that made her want to rush in and take everyone on. But she knew she couldn't. Not only would Natsu hate himself for having her get hurt again but she would also have to face the wrath of Porlyusica, something that she didn't want to deal seeing as she had had the healer angry at more than enough for one lifetime. It was a miracle she even let her go. Lisanna was running next to her and they kept their eyes peeled for anyone who might have been hurt and need help. Evelyn supposed she should be thankful that there wasn't anyone who had been severely hurt but she needed to _do_ something. Running around and doing this was pointless if it meant that she couldn't help anyone or do anything productive. Evie groaned at how completely useless she felt. Lisanna spared her a concerned glance.

"You ok?" Evelyn nodded and pushed on, trying to distract herself from the negative feelings. It would make Natsu smile if he found that she was actually useful and she just wanted to see her older brother happy after being separated for a year.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just thinking." Lisanna looked as if she was going to say something but she didn't. They hadn't even run that far, but Evelyn's legs were already starting to tremble from the amount of physical activity.

"Maybe we should stop and let you rest for a couple of seconds," Lisanna suggested and Evelyn hated to admit that she was right. Taking her friend's advice she leaned against the wall of a building, the cool metal contrasting with how hot her face was with exertion.

As they started moving towards the center of the city the sounds of yelling and gunshots got louder. What they saw when they finally reached their destination was shocking. Blood covered the ground and windows had been broken. Hovering above them they could make out the Christina from Blue Pegasus. Farther along the skyline was the Cube.

"We should stay together," Lisanna yelled over the noise and Evelyn nodded. They would stay safer if they were together.


	31. Chapter 31

**Hey guys, I'm back. This is probably the longest chapter in a while and there's a fair amount of blood and fighting in this chapter as well. Battle scenes are difficult for me to write but I like how this chapter turned out. I had to rewatch the Tartaros arc for this and I have mixed feelings about it. Anyways, like I said, there is blood and violence but I hope you enjoy!**

Mirajane woke up but she kept her eyes closed. Whatever stuff Seilah had knocked her out with did its job. When she did crack open an eye she saw Seilah sitting in a corner reading a book, a bored expression on her face. She lazily looked up and just said "good, you're awake." Mira realized that she was sitting on the floor with her hands tied behind her back. Luckily her legs remained free. Mira knew that Seilah wasn't careless enough to forget to tie up her legs. Seilah must have been confident enough that she was stronger and could beat Mira easily. "I'm supposed to bring you to our King, but that doesn't mean I can't have fun with you first." Moving faster than Mira thought possible, and was instantaneously in front of her. Mira choked out a cry as she delivered a harsh kick to her stomach, rapidly followed by several kicks to her ribs.

"After our last fight I had to regenerate. Of course Lamy added more abilities that I think you'll find surprising." Mira narrowed her eyes. The unnatural speed was new, but knowing Tartaros members, there were more sinister things that Lamy had come up with. Mira had to grudgingly respect the Lamy's talent of genetic engineering. Seeing no other choice, Mira lashed out and kicked Seilah's ankle causing the Gate to stumble back. She could only fend her off for a while like this though, she needed to get her hands free otherwise she wouldn't last long.

She glanced over the room to find that it was different than the other plain cells she had seen so far. Mira didn't understand why there were metal bookshelves with dozens of books on them. That was the only decoration in the otherwise barren metal room. The fact that it was so odd immediately put her on edge. But what harm could _books_ do? Mira found out several seconds later that Seilah somehow had control over them. How? Mira wasn't sure she wanted to know; no doubt it was the result of some twisted idea. Maybe she should suggest something similar to Levy and see if they could devise something similar. The initial onslaught of books caught her by surprise. They were hurtling at her with a force that was stronger than she expected. However, Mira had to wonder if the force could be used to help her. Deciding it was better than nothing, she rolled onto her stomach and the chains that rendered her hands useless began to crack. Just one more attack and then she could defend herself. But she needed a weapon. And she didn't have any; Seilah must have confiscated them while she was unconscious. The clanking sound of metal brought her back to what was happening and she rubbed her wrists which had gotten red due to the metal that had been around them. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"Lisanna, Elfman, come find me, I need help. Bring weapons," she spoke softly and let the network communicator carry her message. They could probably be able to locate her since there was a map indicating where everyone was. Or mostly everyone. Mira just needed to hold out until her brother and sister could find her.

"You're strong enough to withstand one of my new attacks," Seilah mused and Mirajane couldn't tell if she was intrigued or annoyed. "No matter. I'm still one of the nine Demon Gates, and I need to defeat you. You humiliated me in front of Kyouka. I need to make up for that." Mira didn't like what she saw when the Gate's eyes started to glow yellow, tattoos seeming to move across her skin fluidly.

"What is this?" Mira whispered, but she wasn't entirely sure she wanted to find out. In the blink of an eye, Seilah moved with supernatural speed and slammed Mirajane into a wall. Mira cried out as she fell to the floor and struggled to stand back up. Whatever was in that injection that Kyouka gave to make her unconscious had also seemed to drain her strength. Elfman and Lisanna needed to come soon, she wasn't sure how long she could hold out. But that didn't mean she could give up.

Ignoring the amount of pain she was in she practically before landing a solid punch to Seilah's stomach. The Gate grunted as she was flown back. Mira wasn't necessarily proud to admit it, but occasionally, before really difficult fights, she would give herself an injection that allowed her to become stronger, but the effects only lasted for a few hours. Elfman and Lisanna _needed_ to get here before that. As the Demon Gate got ready to charge, Mira focused on where she knew Seilah would attack. Her attacks got straight to the point unlike some of the others who took time 'playing' with their prey. As Seilah went to give her a punch Mira grabbed the attacking fist in her hand and threw her back with all her strength, satisfied that Seilah stumbled back into the wall. Just as she was getting ready to attack again, the glass wall shattered. Mira turned her head quickly and was relieved when Elfman beamed at her before tossing her a knife and sent a sleek, black gun skidding over the smooth metal floor. Relieved to see her gun, Mira immediately took aim and shot. A bolt of what looked like black energy shot out and got Seilah in the shoulder.

It didn't have the desired effect. Instead, Seilah's already glowing eyes seemed to burn more intensely. As Lisanna and Elfman rushed to help their sister, a smaller demon tackled Lisanna to the ground. "Don't get caught up in their fight," Lamy giggled. "You're fighting me." Mira heard Lamy's squeaky voice but she didn't have the time to look and make sure her sister was ok. Instead she slid her gun into her belt and switched to using her knife instead. A quick glance down at Seilah's hands had Mira's blue eyes widening. It looked like her nails had been replaced with claws. Mira only stopped spacing out when her arm began to sting and she felt something warm and sticky trickle down. She gritted her teeth against the pain; she didn't have time to deal with it. Her main priority was defeating Seilah and helping her sister.

To counterattack, Mira slashed her knife through the thin, white material of the demon's outfit staining it with, Mira shuddered in repulsion, a fountain of black blood. "Nice hit, Sis!" Lisanna encouraged and Lamy tackled her again.

"Don't get your hopes up," Lamy sneered, "you haven't seen Seilah start to get serious, yet." Mirajane blocked out Lamy's chatter and focused on the enemy in front of her. She knew she couldn't keep this up for much longer so she made eye contact with Elfman and sent him a plan over their network communicators. Mira stopped moving and gathered all of her energy for one last attack. While Seilah was busy fighting with Mira, Elfman would attack her from behind and hopefully they could overpower her.

Mirajane charged and plunged her knife even deeper into the wound she had already made. Seilah doubled over and that was when Elfman tackled her to the ground. The Demon Gate had fallen. Mirajane only then noticed that she had a somewhat deep cut on her thigh and she put as much pressure on it as she could.

"You should have made her more resistant to injury," Mira managed to say before she sank to the ground, still breathing, but her vision went black.

"Two of the Gates are down," Hibiki broadcasted through their networks communicators. "We have to guess that Gray is fighting one because he's not online anymore. How is everyone else?"

"Mirajane exhausted herself, but Seilah was defeated," Lisanna informed. "And by the way, Evelyn is somewhere inside the Cube."

"What?" Natsu roared and Lisanna winced. "What the hell do you mean she's inside the Cube? Isn't she supposed to be with Porlyusica?" Lisanna heard him take a deep breath. "Do you know where she is?" he asked in a much calmer voice. Lisanna bit her lip.

"Not really," she admitted. Lisanna was pretty sure Natsu's responding bellow made her ears bleed.

"I want her found," Natsu growled and nobody argued with him.

"I'll start scanning for her Natsu," Hibiki promised. "We'll find her."

"You better," Natsu grumbled before he stopped talking.

Juvia bit her lip as she looked at the grotesque, almost skeletal figure in front of her. The stitches across Keyes's mouth were what disturbed her the most. She knew they were just designs but still. The bluenette took a deep breath, knowing that she needed to hurry to see if she could find Gray and assist him because something told her he was in danger. Or at least, more danger than usual. "Seilah says that all human stories are boring but I disagree." Juvia shuddered, even his voice seemed disembodied. "The boy's tale will end in the worst way possible." Juvia's chest contracted. Gray could die. No, she had to stay positive. She knew that Gray could make it out of whatever situation he was in.

"I don't believe you. Gray would never let himself die in a fight," she retorted, placing a confident smile on her face. "He'll be fine," she stated and she had to wonder if it was to comfort herself more than to stand up to Keyes.

"Are you sure about that?" the Demon Gate questioned in his nightmarish voice. Juvia felt her confidence waver. Hibiki spoke to her in that moment.

"Keyes appears to be the weakest of the Nine. From the data I gathered he can control a person with a certain kind of drug, similar to Nirvana, that the Oracion Seis created." Juvia nodded even though she knew Hibiki couldn't see her actions. She gritted her teeth and raised her head. If she was going to find Gray and help him she needed to move fast. Juvia drew her knife and she smiled as she looked at it. The blade was a silvery-blue and the handle was a couple of shades darker. It reminded her of the water that she loved so much and it was even more special because it was something Gray had given her after her first year in Fairy Tail. She knew he was fighting somewhere and she needed to do her part too.

Juvia charged and slashed at Keyes with her knife. The demon gate just moved out of the way with remarkable speed and retaliated with a swift slash of his own knife that she barely managed to block. Juvia didn't use guns unless that was all she had. They were too unwieldy. She much rather preferred the fluidness that came with fighting with knives. She jumped back, slipped her small knife away and brought two long knives as long as her forearm that were almost identical to the blade Gray had given her. Two knives made it easier to attack and defend which was beneficial when she was fighting someone who moved so quickly. They exchanged blows, both parties landing hits on the other but nothing too damaging. Quick slashes with her knives delivered deep cuts to the demon gate's arms and shoulders which was a start. If she could get his legs next, beating him wouldn't be so difficult. As she was about to lunge for him again, Keyes gave her a cut just below her ribs. Thanks to how agile she was, the cut wasn't deep but it _stung_. Juvia wanted to at least try to stop the bleeding but she wasn't given the opportunity. If she and Keyes were equally skilled, it would just be a contest of wills. Juvia knew what she was fighting for and with that she was determined to win. She couldn't lose. She dropped to the ground and slashed at his ankles. Juvia understood why he was considered the weakest. He was fast but his body was frail. Due to blood loss his attacks were already beginning to falter. His jabs at here were sloppy and slow.

"As we speak, your friend is already beginning to die," Keyes taunted her and Juvia fell for it. He hit her with a punch that had her fall back on the ground. "It's fitting he's killed by the person who truly began his tale in the first place." The anger Juvia felt at the idea of Gray being killed gave her enough energy to propel herself and slit the demon gate's throat.

Gray felt some sort of twisted satisfaction when he saw that the ice had pierced his enemy's stomach. Demon blood started staining the demon's white shirt black. Regardless of the injury, _Deliora_ stood up and laughed. "Not bad kid. This is more fun than I was expecting." That small smirk returned to his face as he tossed his own weapon onto the floor. "But killing you with a weapon would be too short. You can keep yours though, you'll need it." Gray rushed and fired another shard of ice into the open wound. The Demon Gate just laughed and ran at Gray faster than one would have expected out of someone losing that much blood. A strong punch to the stomach had Gray slamming into a cold wall and sliding down to the floor. The wind was knocked out of him and he gasped for air, managing to stand up. He couldn't let himself be defeated, not like this. In an instant Deliora was on him again delivered a sold kick that had Gray doubled over in pain. A rib or two was probably broken from that blow. Using what little strength he had gained, Gray pushed his foot against Deliora's knee, which gave him enough time to get back on his feet wearily. With shaky hands, Gray drew his gun and set the mode to rapid-fire. He knew his body couldn't sustain anymore injuries, not if he wanted to live. Still, the idea of killing a being that looked remotely like his father didn't sit right with him. Faces of everyone that Gray considered important flashed through his mind. Before Gray could hit the trigger something changed in his enemy's stance. It looked like he had simply given up. Gray's eyebrows drew together.

"I'm sorry I had to do this," Silver said, making eye contact with Gray. Gray froze, a look of horror growing on his face.

"You're not Deliora," Gray whispered. He felt his eyes fill with tears. The realization hit him hard and he fell to his knees. "Why did you let me do this to you? You're my dad!"

"Keyes, one of the nine, has created a drug that allows him to control other people," Silver stated. "I was hunting down members of Tartaros to get revenge for what Deliora did to our home. To be honest I didn't know you were alive," he gave a small chuckle but their was no humor behind it. "I only found out when there was a news stream talking about Fairy Tail and I saw you in one of the videos they showed. Then I knew I had to continue elimination every member of Tartaros, but I got careless. I infiltrated Tartaros successfully but Keyes caught me and made me one of his _experiments_ ," he hissed at the last word. This particular drug only lasts for twelve hours. It just ran out because I can think clearly again." Gray was visibly trembling at the onslaught of information. "Gray?" Silver's son looked up, tears in his eyes. "I'm tired. Tired of pain and suffering, so please…" he trailed off and Gray already knew what he was asking.

"No I can't do that, you're my dad!"

"You'd be doing me a favor. Please," Silver was practically pleading with him. Gray's hand wavered as he picked up his gun and put his finger on the trigger. "I need to give you something first. My goal was to kill E.N.D, the most powerful demon that Zeref designed. My last wish is that you will carry this out." Gray found himself nodding. "And Gray?" he looked at Silver who was giving him a gentle smile. "I'm so proud of you and I love you." With tears freely streaming down his cheeks Gray closed his eyes and looked away when his finger pulled the trigger.

"I will kill E.N.D, I promise," he swore as he picked up his gun one more time and shot the glass wall that separated the cell from the hallway. He needed to meet up with the others.

Gray was wandering the halls looking for anyone when he saw Juvia lying on the floor at an intersection of hallways. "Juvia!" he yelled, not missing the blood staining her blue clothes. Juvia's eyes fluttered open and she saw Gray leaning over her, stripping off his shirt and tying it around her stomach to stop the flow of blood. "Thank Mavis you're all right," he sighed and he grabbed her in a hug. With tears staining his face, he told her the entire story of what had happened with Silver, with his father. She stayed quiet for all of it and proceeded to hold him and stroked his hair in a comforting manner until the sobs stopped.

"It sounds like he was content when he died," she murmured. "You gave him peace of mind and you should be proud of that. He'll be able to rest in peace now." Gray nodded as he pressed a kiss to her forehead. Juvia froze at the action before her face turned bright red.

"Thank you. I mean it; I'm glad your safe." He stood up and looked at the dried blood on his hands. "Come on, we need to find everyone else." He extended his hand, the one that had trails of her blood from when he 'bandaged' her up. Juvia took his hand, just like she did two years ago after he beat her on the roof of Fairy Tail. And, despite the somberness in the air, she smiled and Gray gave a small smile back.

 **And some Gruvia for all of you! See you guys later! Your reviews make me happy!**


	32. Chapter 32

**I got a review suggesting that I break up different POVs by making new paragraphs which I acknowledged and I tried that here. Also just another fyi I'm glad you guys are loving this story and want me to update it quickly but my writing doesn't work that way. Tbh I don't have a full plot laid out I just get bursts of inspiration or ideas that make me want to write. In this chapter Natsu carrying a blowtorch w/ him at all times is canon. Enjoy!**

Kyouka turned away from her torturing in confusion. "Seilah, Franmalth, Keyes, and Silver have been taken down," she murmured, her blue eyes widening in shock. Despite the situation, Erza and Minerva smiled at each other. When Kyouka turned back around, Erza kicked out caught Kyouka in the stomach. Erza yanked down with all of her strength, her efforts went to waste though.

"You bitch," Kyouka hissed through clenched teeth. The roof above them rumbled and the sound of something exploding seemed unnervingly close.

"What was that?" Minerva asked, glancing up at the ceiling that was visibly shaking. Erza shook her head.

"Probably Natsu," she answered. The ceiling rumbled again and the floor above them caved in. Erza didn't know what to expect when Lucy and Natsu plunged through the ceiling and onto the floor. Needless to say, Erza was not happy with being dropped onto the floor but her hands were free, somewhat.

"Hey guys," Natsu greeted as he dusted off the chalk that had been produced from the explosion. "Do you need me to get those cuffs off?"

"That would be great," Minerva agreed and they held out their wrists so that Natsu could remove them. Nobody was expecting him to bring out a small blowtorch.

"Natsu, why do you have a blowtorch?" Lucy questioned, a slightly concerned look on her face.

"You never know when you might need it," he reasoned. Erza, Lucy, and Minerva exchanged concerned glances.

"I don't know why we're surprised at this point," Minerva sighed. "He always does this."

"What's happened to you so far?" Erza asked.

"Lucy defeated Franmalth." Natsu beamed with pride, Lucy wasn't as enthusiastic. "It was her first time killing a person."

"Don't make it seem like a good thing, stupid," Lucy yelled. "It's not something I'm proud of."

"As entertaining as this is," Kyouka interrupted their conversation, lazily leaning against a wall, "we have important things to get back to, right Erza, Minerva?" Both of their jaws tightened.

"We're going to try to find the others, are you ok here?" Natsu asked as he shot a fireball at the glass wall leading to the hallway.

"We can handle this," Erza replied. "Stay safe you two!"

"You guys too, we'll try to catch up later," Lucy called out as she and Natsu ran away to find anyone else who might need help with a fight.

"Well that was refreshing," Erza chuckled. "It's good to see they're still in good spirits." Minerva nodded.

"It's heartening," she commented. "The fact that four of the Gates have been taking down, maybe this isn't as impossible as we thought."

"You know better than that Minerva," Kyouka chided. "You know who waits for you if all of the Gates are destroyed. He'll be furious if the Nine fell." Erza looked at Minerva's sudden change in expression. Minerva bit her lip and looked away.

"Minerva, what is she talking about?" Erza pressed, though she wasn't entirely sure she wanted to know the answer.

"The Underworld King, Mard Geer," Minerva answered with a grimace. "He's a pompous ass." Kyouka lashed out with her whip at Minerva's insult. Since they were free, Minerva easily ducked out of the way.

"The others can take care of him Minerva," Erza reassured her as she drew her twin long knives. "We need to worry about this fight and trust that the others can take care of themselves." Minerva nodded and drew her knives as she and Erza stood side by side.

"I must admit, I never thought we would fight together again like this," Minerva said, humor laced through her words.

"Neither did I," Erza agreed. They stood in a defensive position and braced themselves for Kyouka's attack. The demon gate launched herself at Erza and Minerva and slashed with nails that were practically talons. To Minerva's surprise, Kyouka didn't go for her. Instead she had lunged at Erza, ready to rip her into pieces. Erza had blocked her, but Kyouka was faster than Erza was due to the genetic engineering Lamy had put her through. A horrible metal-on-metal noise echoed through the room causing Minerva to wince at the grating noise. Erza staggered back from the blow and braced herself, readying herself for the next attack. But it never came. Kyouka was standing back, head tilted to the side like she was contemplating something.

"What could make this fight more fun?" the demon gate mused. "It's no fun to just attack you like this." She tapped one of her talons against her chin, deep in thought. Almost simultaneously, Minerva and Erza charged at Kyouka while she seemed distracted. Minerva's kick caught Kyouka in the stomach. "Minerva," Kyouka hissed. "I knew we shouldn't have trusted you."

"We put the information to good use," Erza reassured her with a smirk. Kyouka snarled and slashed at them with her blade-like nails.

"I was going to leave you alone Minerva, but it looks like I'll have to kill you too."

"You can try," Minerva defied. She drew two pistols from her belt, putting her knives back. Minerva knew that Kyouka was fast enough to potentially dodge bullets, she had seen her do it before. However, a strategy she often used with Sting and Rogue was they would distract their opponent while she would stand back and shoot at a distance. Minerva knew Erza would use similar tactics although she preferred to be in the thick of the fighting. Both of them were perfectly content with the roles they had assigned to themselves.

Minerva stood back and watched Erza jab her knives at Kyouka while the Demon blocked easily. She hissed as Erza took a particularly sharp swipe of claws down her side, blood already seeping through her shirt. Erza stumbled back, pressing a hand to the wound. She winced as she pulled her hand and saw it covered in red blood. The feeling of blood covering the left side of her body and the bitter, metallic odor of the red liquid seemed to surround her.

"Does that hurt Erza?" Minerva's eyes widened when she figured out that Erza was still feeling the effects of the pain drug Minerva had used on them while she was torturing them. Erza gripped her knife in the hand covered in her own blood and managed to stay standing although she swayed. Minerva took the opportunity to shoot at Kyouka. The Demon, who was too busy fighting off Erza, even with her, somewhat, delayed reactions. She moved fast enough to dodge one bullet but the second one caught her in the shoulder, unfortunately it didn't have the intended effect. Instead, Kyouka just looked annoyed. With an irritated noise, she leaped forward and also gave Minerva a sizeable cut on her forearm.

Erza saw red when she saw Minerva get hurt as well. Ignoring the pain, Erza sliced through the Demon's back. Kyouka froze and turned back towards Erza.

"You bitch!" she roared and swiped at her despite the blood oozing from her back and creating a trail of bright red splotches on the metal floor. Erza jumped back in surprise. "Blood loss won't affect me," she boasted as she kicked at Erza's stomach. Minerva groaned in pain but she grabbed the gun she had dropped on the floor. With a shaky hand she shot a bullet through the tear in Kyouka's back. Their enemy screeched in pain. Erza grabbed her knife and leaned over Kyouka who was lying on her back.

"Kill me Erza. I dare you, you couldn't take a life," Kyouka taunted. Erza grit her teeth.

"If it means ridding the world of trash like you then I will," Erza snarled. With a vicious growl she pierced Kyouka's stomach hilt-deep with her knife. "Good riddance," she breathed as she staggered to a standing position, hand still clutching the side Kyouka had shredded. "Can you stand?" she looked towards Minerva who nodded and unsteadily got to her feet.

"Erza?" a voice she hadn't heard in person shouted from somewhere down the corridor. Her head snapped towards the glass wall Natsu had shattered and her eyes widened.

"Jellal?" she yelled, "is that you?" Footsteps clattered on the metal floor and Jellal skidded to a halt.

"Meredy, come quick, Erza and Minerva are hurt," he ordered and Meredy was with them in a few seconds. Jellal's eyes glanced from Erza to Minerva to Kyouka's dead body and put the pieces together. He and Meredy bustled over to where they were leaning against each other for support. Jellal carefully lowered Erza to the ground and began wrapping her side in gauze while Meredy did the same to Minerva.

"What are you doing here?" Erza asked as Jellal tended to her injuries.

"Natsu called us for backup," Meredy explained. "Going after Tartaros has been a goal for us as well. And Jellal wanted to see you again," she added slyly. Erza flushed at the insinuation. Jellal's face was slightly pink as well.

"Can you two walk?" Jellal ignored his companion while Meredy chuckled.

"With difficulty," Minerva admitted and it took a fair amount of pride for her to say that. "Can you help us get to the others?"

"We saw Juvia and Gray earlier. Both of them seemed relatively unharmed and they went to go help the others," Meredy informed. "They had just defeated Keyes and Silver."

"Yes, Natsu and Lucy defeated Franmalth, and Mira won against Seilah. Five of the four are down. Who else is there Minerva?"

"Jackal, Torafuzar, Tempester, and Ezel," Minerva listed. "All of them are strong. And after we defeat them…"

"There's the underworld king Mard Geer," Jellal filled in. "Ultear has been sharing all of our info with Hibiki as we speak. She'll join the fight if she feels she needs to or if she gets bored."

"I found Evelyn's location Natsu," Hibiki reported and Natsu stopped short.

"Where is she? Tell me _now_ ," he snarled. Lucy laid a restraining hand on his arm in an effort to calm him. From the widening of his eyes to the way his lips curled back to show his abnormally sharp teeth, Lucy got the feeling that whatever Hibiki was saying wasn't good. "Give me her location." Hibiki must have responded because Natsu grabbed Lucy's hand and sprinted down the metal hallway.

"Natsu, where is she?" Lucy asked as her lungs burned to keep up with Natsu and his relentless sprinting.

"She found one of the nine demon Gates, Jackal. I've had to deal with him before and that was the most difficult fight I've ever been in. Evie's not strong enough to fight him by herself yet."

Wendy was catching her breath as she surveyed the scene before her. Fairy Tail and their allies had more firepower but the Tartaros grunts had more numbers. "Sting, do you have control over things here?" she yelled. Her brown eyes drifted towards the Cube and she had the urge to go and help. As long as the ship remained active and running, the demons still had the upper hand even if five of them had fallen.

"I think so. What are you planning on doing?" Sting replied back through the network communicator.

"I need to go onto the Cube. I think they need back up." Wendy called. Sting, Rogue, and Gajeel turned to Wendy and gave her the same _you-have-got-to-be-kidding-me_ look at the same time.

"Wendy, if you get hurt Salamander's going to kill us," Gajeel reminded her, panic laced through his words.

"I thought you were strong enough to beat him Gajeel," Sting taunted while Rogue smirked.

"If he lost to me then how could he beat Natsu?" Rogue questioned and Gajeel grit his teeth. Wendy giggled at the scene unfolding before her. Of course they would argue over something petty as this in the middle of a serious fight. Using the chaos to her advantage, Wendy darted away and up the metal ramp that lead to the Cube.

 **Your reviews give me life! Thanks for all of the support!**


	33. Chapter 33

**Hey guys! Here's another chapter. Enjoy!**

Evelyn stood hunched over, gasping for air with her hands on her knees. Against her better judgement she had let Lisanna leave her alone to go help her sister. But she felt like she needed to prove something, not just to herself but to her brother. Evelyn needed to prove that she had gotten stronger since she had come back. That drive combined with the claustrophobia of being enclosed in places that didn't have a clear way out had made her restless. But of course it was just her luck to go run into one of the demon gates. The bastard was one of the stronger ones too. She knew that they considered themselves above humans because of all of the genetic engineering that had been done to them. That much was observable based off of the razor-sharp teeth and the black spots covering the face of the Gate standing in front of her. Jackal. Natsu had fought him before and loathed him with a burning passion.

She remembered Natsu coming back to the skyscraper covered in burns and physically weak. Jackal had been trying to blow up areas of the poorer parts of Era but Natsu stopped him before anyone got severely injured or killed. He didn't elaborate on the fight that ensued, but she could guess it was a fight that genuinely scared him. Evelyn wished he would tell her what scared him so much, but she knew better than to press him for details.

"You're Salamander's sister, right?" the Demon sneered, already knowing the answer. "Shame about what happened to you this past year." Evelyn clenched her teeth and curled her hands into fists, trying her best to not let Jackal's taunting get the better of her. She took a deep breath and tried to remember how Erza taught her to center herself on her surroundings, to only focus on what was going on in the present. Most of the time, her method worked. "I would hate to kill you," he mused, "I wonder how much pain you can take. Your year away should have increased your pain tolerance, right?" Evelyn started shaking. The memories of all the serums they had drugged her with to increase her susceptibility to pain flashed through her mind. Being in so much pain all she saw was white. Remembering what it felt like for her to lose her voice for days at a time due to screaming in agony.

"Leave her alone you bastard!" she heard her brother yell and a blast of heat exploded in front of her. "Evelyn what the hell were you thinking?" Natsu growled, using the cover of smoke to do a sweep over his sister to make sure she wasn't hurt.

"I'm sorry Natsu," Evelyn lowered her head. "I just needed to do something and," Natsu cut her off before she could explain anymore.

"Lucy, take her out of here. _Now_." The command in his voice made Lucy hesitate but with a glare she grabbed his little sister's hand and dragged her out of the room.

Lucy couldn't help but wonder what caused Evelyn to leave the tower, even though she had ideas. She understood the feelings of being locked up and being useless. Those were thoughts that had haunted her since her mother died. "Hey, are you okay?" Lucy questioned once they had gotten away from the chamber where Natsu was left with Jackal

Evelyn huffed but she leaned against a wall, letting the cool metal help her calm down and center herself. "I just needed to _get out_. I've been stuck behind metal walls for a year. Being in that tower, with the metal over the windows…" she trailed off but Lucy understood what she was saying. Evelyn shuddered and her beautiful, dark eyes, the same color as her adoptive brother's, squeezed shut. "I knew he would be mad," she murmured, "but I wanted to prove myself to him, to show that I've gotten stronger." She leaned further against the wall, almost like she wanted to disappear. Lucy noticed a tear had slid down her cheek.

"Natsu _is_ proud of you Evelyn," Lucy comforted. "He's seen how much you've improved since you've come back. He just doesn't want you hurting yourself yet. He just got you back, he's not ready to worry about losing you again."

"Did he tell all of this to you?" Evelyn asked, somewhat bitterly but the blonde shook her head.

"I pieced most of it together, his thoughts are easy to guess once you know him," Lucy shrugged. "I would talk to him after all of this is over. He's missed you a lot since you've been at Fairy Hills." Evelyn bit her lip and looked down at the ground.

"You're right," she muttered. And Evelyn knew it was true. She had been pushing Natsu away because he had Lucy living with him. She believed that Lucy had replaced her but after what Lucy had said, she understood that Natsu had never replaced her. He just wasn't the type of person who would do that. Evelyn surprised herself by launching herself at Lucy and grabbing her into a tight hug. "I'm sorry I was such a bitch to you," Evelyn apologized.

Lucy returned the gesture and felt her heart break a little bit. "You don't have to. A lot changed in the year you were gone and I could understand not trusting me, my father seriously hurt you," Lucy reassured her.

"Do you hate your father?" Evelyn asked and she watched as Lucy froze before she sighed.

"I don't know," Lucy confessed. "I want to hate him because of how he treated me after my mother died and how he treated you," she added hastily. "But at the same time, he is my father; he's the only living family I have left." Evelyn remained quiet. She knew she was being petty for hating Lucy when she didn't have a hand in what she had gone through the past year. "I'm really sorry for how he treated you." Evelyn shook her head.

"Let's just stop apologizing to each other," Evelyn decided and Lucy nodded in agreement. "I'm supposed to be looking for people that are injured and need help."

"Did you see any of your cousins?" Lucy questioned and Evelyn shook her head.

"Lisanna and I kind of stuck in the shadows, we didn't want to get caught. Lisanna and I separated though because she wanted to find Mirajane and I wanted to see if I could find Natsu," Natsu's sister explained. "I don't know where she went."

"I'm sure she's fine," Lucy comforted, "she'll be with Mira and Elfman, they can take care of her."

Natsu was standing in front of Jackal, a nasty scowl on his face. "You're sister's gotten better, it seems," Jackal drawled. "I'm surprised she had the nerve to come and join the fight."

"She surprised both of us then," Natsu admitted. "But I'll have to deal with her later. First, I need to kill you to make sure you can't explode anything ever again." Jackal just gave a manic grin, revealing his shark-like teeth.

"I'd like to see you try. Unfortunately, Lamy didn't make any adjustments to me after I wound up in Hell's Core _because of you_. I need to settle the score." Natsu's jaw tightened.

"I can't let that happen. Tartaros is going to be destroyed, it's just a matter of time. I intend to speed that process along as much as I can. Five of the Gates have been taken down, you'll be the next one."

" _If_ you defeat all of us, you still have to deal with the Underworld King," Jackal reminded. "And he doesn't tolerate humans."

"I'll deal with him personally if I have to, I don't care. If I need to abandon humanity to save my friends I will." _After all, I've done it before_. He remembered the faces of the people he'd killed in defense of Fairy Tail and the rest of the population of Fiore. He remembered the feeling of his hands soaked in blood and ashes from his fire weapons and knives. He remembered seeing people, terrible people who had been involved in a human trafficking ring and had tried to kidnap some of the girls, beg and plead for mercy which he ignored since the Council in Era hadn't done shit to stop them. He was ready to go through the emotional turmoil that always followed if it meant everyone slept easier at night, knowing that one more threat had been eliminated. It was just one more burden he had to bare and he wouldn't have to go through it alone. Lucy would be in a similar situation since she had killed someone for the first time. Maybe, like they had in the past, they would help each other.

"Is that so?" Jackal raised an eyebrow, "it's hard to imagine you killing someone." Natsu didn't take the bait that Jackal was clearly dangling in front of his nose, like someone taunting a starved animal with food, hoping to elicit a violent reaction. His fight with Jackal had taken place a few years before, when he was younger and less mature, although the argument could be made that he still had the maturity of a ten-year-old at certain points in time. He should know, Erza had lectured him for it too many times to count. "What, not going to play?" Natsu carefully kept his face empty of any and all emotions. He had to separate his emotions from his current thoughts so he wouldn't get distracted. Fighting Jackal had been a challenge, one Natsu had hoped he'd never have to deal with again.

"Are you going to attack, or do you not have the skill you had three years ago?" Natsu calmly answered Jackal's retorts. "You know what they say, the more you talk the weaker you are." That got the Gate's attention, since he narrowed his eyes and grabbed a flash grenade in his hand. If Natsu was obsessed with fire, Jackal was fascinated with explosions. Dynamite was Jackal's best friend. He threw the grenade at Natsu but he flipped out of the way easily. His fighting style had morphed over the years as well. He still relied on brute force for the most part, but he had become more fluid and better at going on the defensive, which he could use to his advantage in this situation. With the smoke from the explosion, Natsu couldn't see where Jackal was, but he could smell him. He pointed his gun in Jackal's general direction and fired, the light from the fire dispelling the smoke. A hiss let Natsu know his attack was successful. Like he always did, he had to separate his conscience from what he knew he needed to do. Not giving Jackal the time to recover, Natsu shot another ball of fire at him. The sound of something skittering across the floor towards him alerted him to the fact that Jackal had tossed another grenade at him. He narrowly avoided the brunt of the blast but he still got slammed against the wall. Jackal laughed maniacally and he launched more grenades. Natsu gritted his teeth and rolled out of the way, breathing hard and crouching on his feet. He changed the setting on his gun to rapid fire and starting shooting fire at Jackal who was too busy being smug and was still laughing at what he perceived to be his victory. Now it was Jackal's turn to get thrown down one of the metal hallways, sliding along the floor. He growled and tossed another grenade at Natsu.

"Why aren't you giving up?" Jackal yelled in frustration as Natsu continued to dodge his attacks.

"Because I _can_ _'_ _t_ ," Natsu explained. "I already told you, I'm going to help take down Tartaros and if I die, then so be it." Natsu wasn't entirely sure how he felt about that last statement. Granted, he always imagined going out fighting in some important fight. On the other hand, did he really deserve to continue living with Evelyn? He _was_ the one who had been careless enough to let her go to Crocus by himself, after all. Some part of him, the part that was always whispering negative thoughts into his mind, reminded him that he needed to punish himself, as if the causes of the scars on his wrist didn't give him enough pain. That it was nothing compared to what she went through. His hands began to shake and he struggled to hold his weapon up. Natsu needed to end this fight fast and then get back to Lucy as soon as he could. She was the only one who could comfort him. He didn't need Evie to see what her one-year absence did to him. He grabbed the other fire gun he kept and used both of them to spout endless amounts of fire. Natsu didn't care about being careful. All he cared about was getting out of this situation as soon as possible. The last thing he needed was for Jackal to see him like this. But knocking him unconscious wasn't enough. He needed to kill him.

Jackal had been yelping in pain as fire pummeled his body until he was lying on the floor covered in burns. Natsu pulled out his regular shot gun, and shot a bullet, the target being Jackal's forehead. When he was content to see that Jackal had died due to blood loss he followed Lucy and Evelyn's scents.

 **So I know that Lucy defeated Jackal in the story, but she did kill Franmalth which was theoretically a fight Natsu won and it gave me a good opportunity to show some of his thoughts and memories. We get to see some Lucy and Evelyn bonding moments and if it seems rushed, there's probably been a two or three week time skip since Evelyn came back. Your reviews give me life and I'll see you guys next time!**


	34. Chapter 34

**Hey guys! I've been getting ready for college so updates will probably be a lot slower since I don't really plan stuff out. But wow, I can't believe this story has over 200 follows. It makes me so happy that people enjoy reading this story as much as I enjoy writing it. Anyways, there are some more ship moments thrown in here that should keep you guys happy. Also there's still going to be a fair amount of blood so if you don't like it then you can skip over those parts. Your reviews give me life. Enjoy!**

To say Wendy had any idea of where she was going would be a lie. Through the network communicator she could see the locations of their allies, but none of their enemies. She ran her finger over her air gun which could send out air with enough force to knock a person to the ground. It was a gift Natsu had given her for her twelfth birthday and it was her favorite weapon. She hated being violent, and she hated spilling blood even more. Wendy _was_ training with Porlyusica to become a doctor after all. Being bloodthirsty was quite the opposite of what she wanted to be. However, Wendy had learned to recognize that there were times she needed to be violent in order to protect her friends and family.

"Wendy,"Hibiki's voice rang through the communicator and displayed a layout of the Cube, courtesy of Minerva. "I'm sending you the location of the control room. There will be a Gate there most likely, but I can't tell."

"I can take care of it, thank you Hibiki," Wendy thanked and she _was_ grateful. Now she knew what to do and how to be helpful. Taking down the Cube was important, if they lost their center for communication and the power of the ship the playing field would be more level than it was now. Like she expected, the control room was at the center of the airship and it took her a while. Every couple of minutes, Wendy paused to observe her surroundings and once she confirmed that she was in fact alone, she would continue creeping forward. With her sensitive hearing, she could hear yells and explosions in the distance but she didn't have the time to see who was causing them or if they needed help. She would only get in the way; it'd be a better use of her time if she went straight to the control center like she was planning on doing. Once she got there she had no idea what would happen. It would be great if it was undefended and she could just waltz in, press a lot of buttons, and come out unscathed. But for some reason, she had a feeling that wouldn't happen. Wendy knew that five of the Demon Gates had been taken down, but that still left four. With how her luck usually was, she would have wind up fighting someone...or something.

When she eventually reached the control center, Wendy found that the control room was sealed shut with a fingerprint scanner. With her thoughts, she relayed the situation to Hibiki, not wanting to risk being detected. A moment later, the light on the scanner flashed green and the door slid open. The inside was much like the surveillance and security rooms at the skyscraper. Metal floors and screens that covered the walls. A chair was put in front of a large desk and Wendy could see someone tapping something into a display in front of them. As soon as she stepped inside, the person swirled around. Wendy had to assume it was a Gate sitting in front of her. His skin had become gray and each of his large arms had a band of tribal tattoos on them.

"That's Ezel. He's one of the Gates," Hibiki spoke through the communicator and Wendy nodded. She had already guessed that.

"Who are you?" he questioned in a deep, rumbling voice. Wendy lifted her chin and spoke with more confidence than she felt.

"My name is Wendy Marvell from Fairy Tail, and I'm the one who's going to destroy this control room." Since Ezel didn't really have eyebrows, Wendy assumed that the facial expression was meant to mimic someone raising an eyebrow.

"I'm afraid I can't let you do that," Ezel replied. "But if you insist, I have no issue crushing you." Wendy just lifted her chin defiantly. She had been faced with similar enemies, maybe enemies not quite as powerful, but ones with the same cocky, arrogant attitude. Like the rest of them, his arrogance would lead to his ultimate defeat. Being underestimated was good like that, she supposed. Wendy really hated killing people. She had only killed one person and the guilt had crushed her for months. But if push came to shove, if her back was up against a wall, she knew she would have to. It wasn't a welcomed thought. She was torn out of her thoughts when Ezel drew two hunting knives that were the length of his forearm. Wendy would have to rely on speed if she wanted to beat him; he might be strong, but he would move slower. Unless his genetic engineering eliminated that. In that case, Wendy would just have to improvise and ask herself the question _"What would Natsu do?"_ It had worked for her before. Next to her gun she had a small pocket knife but it was wickedly sharp. Wendy knew how to use it, and while she hated the idea of using it, she had a feeling she would have to draw it in this fight.

Juvia stumbled and kept a hand pressed to her side. The cut that Keyes had given her hadn't stopped bleeding and even though it didn't cut deep, the steady stream of blood leaving her body was starting to take its toll. Gray stopped moving and went to strip off his jacket. "Hold still," he instructed gently, "this might hurt." With that, he wrapped the jacket around Juvia's waist and tied it in a knot tight enough to put pressure on the cut to make the bleeding stop. Gray's hand were stained with blood when he was satisfied with the knot he had made but he didn't particularly care. "We need to find someone to take care of this," Gray muttered to himself.

"Hibiki?" Juvia asked out loud but she knew the tech expert had heard her. "Where's the exit?" Juvia was always amazed at how skilled Hibiki was at technology. He was a master hacker and managed the technology for Blue Pegasus and the rest of their allies. Gray and Lyon were with him a fair amount, much to their chagrin, because they would often need help with technology when Freed wasn't around. There was no verbal response from Hibiki, but a zoomed-out map showed a way to the exit.

"Wait, Hibiki, where's Wendy?" Gray asked and this time he actually responded.

"She's at the control room fighting Ezel, one of the Demon Gates," he informed almost nonchalantly but Gray knew he was concerned. Wendy and Chelia were like everyone's little sisters. Not only that, Natsu would slaughter him if anything happened to her. His best friend/rival had a volatile temper on good days, if he was pissed and he heard that Wendy had gotten hurt and Gray had known about it, Gray had a feeling Natsu would beat the shit out of him. From the day Evelyn was lost, Natsu had grown infinitely more protective over his family.

"I know what you're thinking Gray," Hibiki added, "but your first priority should be getting medical attention for you and Juvia. Neither of you would last long in a fight in that shape. Porlyusica is back at the skyscraper, get to her as fast as you can and try to avoid enemies while you're at it."

"Hibiki, where _are_ you right now?" Gray asked. Hibiki wasn't much of a fighter so he was never in the middle of the action if he could avoid it.

"Christina," was the simple reply. Blue Pegasus's airship was impressive but Gray wasn't surprised since Blue Pegasus was filled with people who cared more about their physical appearance more than anything else. There were guest quarters as well as a large control room where Hibiki worked most of the time. He had the most sophisticated technology Gray had ever seen and it enabled his hacking skills to be incredible. Gray was somewhat envious, but he understood that Natsu cared more about weapons and research than anything else. Hacking and anything related to technology wasn't Natsu's first priority.

Juvia and Gray continued to limp through the maze of metal hallways, leaning heavily on each other in silence. "Do you think Evelyn's ok?" Juvia asked and Gray remained silent for a moment before responding.

"I'm sure she's with Natsu and Lucy now," Gray consoled. "They won't let her get hurt. Natsu just got her back, he's not going to let her get taken away again so quickly. I wouldn't worry about her. She's in good hands." Juvia nodded and knew Gray was right. "We need to move faster if we want to get back to get fixed up so we can continue fighting. We're useless like this." They continued pressing forwards following the map that Hibiki had given them. What felt like hours later, they finally got out of the Cube and had gone down the ramp that was still left alone.

The streets were in chaos. Broken glass covered the ground, the sound of gunfire richocheted off the buildings. Juvia glanced around at the bodies on the ground passed out or barely conscious and was relieved when there were none of their allies that had gotten seriously hurt. Liquid was soaking her shoes and she was confident she was stepping in pools of blood. The thought made her feel sick. If Gray noticed he didn't say anything about it but he could feel Juvia tensing and shaking slightly.

"What's wrong?" he questioned, not looking at her but Juvia knew he was concerned. She just shook her head.

"The blood," she trailed off and Juvia knew she didn't need to elaborate. She wasn't squeamish about blood, she had gotten into her first fight when she was ten after all. But there was something different about walking through it as opposed to just seeing it on the ground.

Gray didn't know what to do except to pick her up, which is exactly what he did. As he carried her to Fairy Tail he felt a few warm droplets roll down his leg but he ignored it. Being covered in blood, whether it be his own or someone else's wasn't entirely foreign. Identifying the skyscraper was less problematic than he expected since all of the building lights had been shut off and it was now dark out. The sun had been just about to set when Gray went on to the Cube. With the few street lights that were on, he found the tower easily. Fairy Tail's tower was the tallest building in the city, except maybe for Kardia Cathedral. He let the scanner scan his eyes when he reached the entrance and he bolted for the elevator, Juvia still curled up in his arms.

"What happened?" Porlyusica demanded as soon as Gray got off the elevator on the fourteenth floor. The hospital ward was sterile, like you would expect. The lighting was bright, but not too harsh and the floors were white tile. White paint also coated the walls but there were works of art in blue and green to 'make the room more inviting', as Wendy had said. Gray placed Juvia on a bed before claiming the one next to her's.

"We each fought one of the Demon Gates. We won, but it was tough." Porlyusica only huffed as she went and put an electrode on Juvia's wrist, to monitor her pulse and the rhythm of her heart. The wire from the electrode was plugged into a port on the side of a clear screen. Numbers and charts were displayed on the screen a second later. Before making her way to Gray, Porlyusica injected Juvia with an IV.

"Do you know when we'll be able to go back out and fight?" Juvia asked and the pink-haired doctor made a look of disapproval.

"Not until, you're fully healed," was the short answer they got. Juvia knew that the question was irrelevant because Porlyusica never let anyone go until she was satisfied with their health. Both Juvia and Gray knew that that could take weeks, and if they were released early it was under strict orders not to do _any_ physical activity for the next week or two. It was infuriating.

"We already did our part," Juvia heard Gray say, though his voice seemed distant to her. "Let the others finish this off."

Jellal had offered to help Erza walk after he had wrapped her side in bandages from where Kyouka had cut her, but since she was Erza his offer was denied. Minerva's arm had been wrapped in bandages as well but the bandages that were on weren't enough. Blood was still seeping through the layers and layers of gauze. "Meredy, get Minerva back to Fairy Tail; she needs medical attention _now_ ," Jellal ordered. The pink-haired girl nodded and started walking as fast as possible towards the exit of the Cube.

Erza and Jellal were walking through the corridors of metal in silence until Erza heard something over the communicator that made her stop in her tracks. "Erza?" Jellal questioned and he wrapped an arm around her waist to keep her steady.

"Police have shown up," she muttered. "Hibiki is seeing them coming in."

"But I thought Magnolia's police let Fairy Tail and their allies do whatever they want?" Jellal knew that was what Natsu had said to him multiple times anyway.

"They do, but these are people from Era," Erza replied grimly. "Hibiki says they have the Knights' Cross." Jellal didn't have to look at Erza to see the anger on her face. He knew Erza hated the Knights with a burning passion. "Shit, Jellal you need to get out of here. If they catch you—." Jellal just waved away her concern.

"It'll be ok," was all he said, but he didn't make eye contact.

"Jellal, Meredy's out there right now with Minerva! They're not above taking both people even if one of them is injured. They'll just care about the publicity and the stories. Not to mention the money that Jude Heartfilia will probably give them," Erza added bitterly. It was hard to believe that Lucy was related to him. She was infinitely more gentle and showed more compassion for others. Erza remembered Lucy's reaction when Evelyn had said that her father had been one of her captors. Jude and Lucy looked the same but that was as far as the similarities went. She had never met Lucy's mother but from what Lucy had said she took after her mother.

Still, she couldn't help but worry if the Knights saw Lucy with Fairy Tail, with _Natsu_ , they would take her back to her father. Especially if the amount of Jewels he had promised for her to be returned was true.

"Erza, it's ok," Jellal repeated, turning to face her and to grip her shoulders, being careful not to hurt her on the side where Kyouka had shredded her skin. "Meredy knows what she's doing. It's dark outside now and most of the city lights are off. Besides, I'm sure Hibiki is working on making their tech go haywire now anyway." Erza knew that Jellal was telling the truth.

"Hibiki, are you doing anything about the Knights?" Erza heard Natsu ask.

"Like we've said before, they've gotten arrogant and lazy. I hacked into their tech in less than five minutes. Right now, all of the signals will be scrambled and it should throw them off."

"How many are there?" Erza pressed and when there wasn't an immediate response she got worried.

"It looks like a few dozen but not more than one hundred," he observed. "I wouldn't worry about it too much Erza. I'm telling Sting and Rogue about them now. They can easily take care of them by themselves." Erza still wasn't satisfied. The Era Knights were despicable to her, promising to protect the innocent but not doing anything to defend them, caring only for money and power. Despite how many times Fairy Tail and their allies had put them to shame, they never got the message. They probably believed it was nothing but a series of flukes and a streak of good luck.

"Tell Sting and Rogue to give them hell," she said and she could have sworn she felt Hibiki smile.

"Oh they're planning on it. They still have scores to settle after all, for Evelyn and Natsu." Erza smiled, but it was darker and contained more anger than happiness.

"Good. How are Meredy and Minerva?" Erza asked, knowing Jellal was concerned about them despite how confident he was that they were fine.

"They haven't been caught yet, they're moving pretty quickly. I wouldn't worry too much about it," Hibiki relayed whatever information he was looking at on his various screens and holograms that he no doubt had in front of him.

How he managed all the information never ceased to amaze Erza. She was too impatient to monitor everything and it blew her mind sometimes that _Natsu_ of all people had enough patience to sort through everything within seconds and categorize something as important or not. But then again, she had been raised to be more of a fighter than anything else. Erza could use tech if the situation called for it, but it wasn't her strong suit. Not that she told anyone that of course. Only Jellal, Natsu, and Gray knew and she had threatened physical harm to Natsu and Gray if they said anything to anyone about it. She didn't like showing weakness; it was just something that had been engrained into her mind since she was little. Jellal, she knew, wouldn't tell anyone because he didn't have a big mouth and didn't like to hear himself talk. Quite the opposite of _some_ of her other friends.

"Shit," Hibiki swore and Erza stopped walking. For Hibiki to swear like that, something serious had to be happening; he was too well-conducted to swear so casually like Gray and Natsu did. "Erza, don't move. Lahar has a group of guards standing outside the Cube. Let me try to figure out a way to distract them long enough for you to sneak by."


	35. Chapter 35

**Hey guys! So these chapters will probably be shorter and more spaced out but I'm going to try my hardest to keep this going throughout college. So anyways, enjoy!**

There was a lot of yelling, cursing, and whining about bad luck when Hibiki told everyone that Era Knights had arrived, which added more chaos to the already existing mess. For people that were outside in what was now no-man's-land it was particularly stressful, especially for those that were wounded.

Mirajane, who was relying heavily on her brother to keep her on her feet, ordered her brother to run and to do whatever it took to get her to the Fairy Tail skyscraper. Mira was exhausted. Thankfully, they hadn't run into any more enemies on the way out of the Cube but now navigating the streets of Magnolia was like walking through a minefield, except instead of avoiding mines, they were avoiding law enforcement. She almost wish there was a minefield instead. They were a lot less annoying because there were scanners to detect mines and it was easier to avoid them. People moved around, mines and explosives did not. Lisanna was ahead of them, nearly invisible except for her white hair. So far their path was clear but Mira was expecting their luck to turn any minute. The fact that nothing had happened since she defeated Seilah made her whole body tense. If they were attacked she would be useless. Mira could barely stand, let alone fight.

Thankfully, nothing happened and they entered Fairy Tail with no problem and made their way to the hospital ward. There weren't many people, only Juvia and Gray were laying on their beds and it was easy to tell they had been hurt. Juvia had bandages around her torso and Porlyusica was wrapping Gray in bandages although he seemed to have significantly more damage than Juvia did.

"So what's your story?" Gray asked once Elfman helped Mira lay down on a bed. Porlyusica momentarily left Gray to go get Mira an IV and to get her electrode hooked up to the screen next to her bed. Gray tried to sit up to see Mirajane and what had happened to her but let out a groan of pain and flopped back down on the bed, making him wince. The pink-haired doctor glared at him disapprovingly.

"Didn't I tell you not to move?" Gray averted his gaze from her harsh expression and huffed. "You're here to get better not to hurt yourself more correct?" Once again, Gray didn't answer. He thought about crossing his arms but decided not to. Gray didn't need to hurt himself anymore and despite everything he had faced in the past ten years of his life, Porlyusica was still one of the scariest people he knew. She had scared him ever since he first joined Fairy Tail and he had tried to walk around on a sprained ankle. The doctor had yelled at him and then had Erza come and keep watch over him to make sure he wouldn't try to leave again.

Mira cleared her throat to get his attention. "I defeated Seilah, with Elfman's help. At that point I wasn't strong enough to beat her by myself. What about you?"

"Turns out that the demon Silver, was my dad," Gray stated and tried to remain as emotionless as possible, but there was still a lump in his throat. "He asked me to kill him since Keyes had just been manipulating him for years."

"He's in a better place now," Juvia comforted. "And besides, he got to see his son again, something that I'm sure he'd never thought would happen." Mirajane just nodded and gave a sympathetic smile. If she weren't so badly injured she would have gone over given him a hug. And then have to deal with a protective, slightly jealous Juvia.

"What happened to you Juvia?" Lisanna asked, wanting to direct the conversation away from the painful memories of Gray's fight with Silver.

"I fought Keyes and killed him. He didn't give me a lot of cuts, but the one he did was bleeding a lot. Ms. Porlyusica fixed it though.

At this Porlyusica muttered something that sounded like "at least _she_ appreciates the work that I do."

"I do appreciate the work that you do! I just wanted to check on Mira and see how she was," Gray protested.

"Your bed is across from hers. Your vision is 20/20, you could see her fine."

Sometimes Gray hated how logical and straightforward their doctor could be. Gray didn't say anything, just turned his head towards Juvia and pouted. She smiled at Gray's expression and said, "don't be impatient. Like you said, we did our part. We can trust the others to finish what we started."

Juvia wanted to chuckle at Gray's childlike reactions. He was an amazing fighter and he was one of the people that Juvia would want to watch her back. But then there were the times he'd fight with Natsu over something juvenile and ridiculous or when he wouldn't get his way and he'd throw an immature temper trantrum or sulk for the rest of the day. While it was incredibly entertaining to watch, Juvia recognized that it was a sign that all of them had grown up too fast, that they never got the opportunity to experience what a real childhood was like.

She had grown up in Phantom Lord, having no idea who her parents were and she, like so many other people in Fairy Tail had been trained to fight from a young age. And Phantom Lord had a different atmosphere than Fairy Tail did. Phantom Lord was less upbeat and more reminiscient of the military. Juvia had people she was close with, but no one she actually considered to be her friend. When she initially joined Fairy Tail, after she lost her fight to Gray she had been taken aback. The idea that any gang could be as lighthearted as Fairy Tail was something she had deemed not even possible. Then again, she had only heard negative things about Fairy Tail since Phantom Lord worked under Jude Heartfilia. Juvia remembered feeling like she had a metaphorical raincloud above her head for the entire time she was at Phantom Lord but she hadn't felt that way in a long, long time.

Absentmindedly she realized Gray and Mirajane were talking to each other before being yelled at to be quiet which they listened to after giving each other bashful smiles.

"You look terrible," was not the greeting Natsu wanted to hear from his little sister after he just saved her.

"No thanks to you," Natsu grumbled. "Why did you leave the tower after I _told_ you not to?" Evelyn bit her lip and looked down at the ground.

"I was starting to feel claustrophobic and I couldn't just _sit there_ while you were out risking your life!" she snapped back. Natsu's eyes narrowed and Lucy stepped in before they got into a yelling match in a place where they could gain unwanted attention.

"The important thing is that both of you are safe," Lucy interrupted. "Also, why are you covered in burns?"

"Jackal loves throwing dynamite around but he didn't really hit me that badly." Lucy opened her mouth to protest that it looked like he did get hit badly but she could tell he was in a bad mood. "On top of Tartaros something else came up." Both Lucy and Evelyn looked at him, looks of unease on their faces.

"Stop being such a drama queen Natsu and tell us what happened," his sister sighed and Natsu started talking again, pleased with himself that he got a reaction out of her.

"The Era Knights have shown up and it's unclear who they're fighting for and who their fighting against."

"Is Lahar with them?" Evelyn asked with her fists balled up and her jaw clenched.

"I don't think Hibiki has seen him yet, but that's not to say he isn't here. Knowing him and his lazy ass, he's hanging out in a car or a plane waiting for his 'grunts'. His words not mine." He held up his hands at Lucy and Evelyn's accusing glares. "You know I would never say anything like that!"

Lucy's eyes narrowed at him. Something was off about Natsu's behavior. It seemed forced. His smile didn't reach his eyes all the way. His shoulders were too tense. Something had happened between him and Jackal, something had been said. Or rather, knowing Natsu, he was too hard on himself again.

"Natsu, is something wrong?" Lucy tentatively asked. Just like that his mood changed.

"I can't afford to be distracted right now," was all he said and Lucy and Evelyn exchanged glances. Evelyn rolled her eyes at her brother's theatrics.

"Just ignore him, Lucy. He'll be himself again after the fight." Lucy bit her lip. Evelyn still had no idea the effects that her absence had had on her brother. Lucy wondered if Natsu would ever tell her or if it was something only she, Sting, and Rogue were the people who would ever _truly_ know about what he'd gone through, what he was still going through. She doubted he would tell her. From what Lucy knew about Natsu, he would keep smiling to keep everyone else happy even if he wasn't.

"We need to keep moving, we can keep the Knights occupied for a while and try to get them to lay off everyone else," Natsu said and then with a devious smile added "and I know exactly how."

"You're going to blow things up aren't you?" Lucy sighed and the manic light in his eyes was terrifying.

"Well duh," he replied with a grin and he bolted through the hallways towards the exit. Left with no other option Lucy and Evelyn followed him.

 **Your reviews give me life. See ya guys later!**


	36. Chapter 36

**Hey guys! So far college has been going pretty well and it's not as overwhelming as I thought it would be. Anyway the reason why this chapter came out kind of late was because I didn't have any inspiration to write this. Anyway, I'm pretty happy w/ the fight scene so yeah. Also thank you so much for the 232 followers. It makes me really happy that people actually like my writing. Anyways, enjoy!**

Wendy was still standing in the doorway looking at Ezel, waiting to see if he would make the first move. Her body was tense and her fingers were curled around the hilt of her pocket knife, the material cool and smooth under her skin. It gave her something to focus on, something to keep her mind in the present, not worrying about the past or future. Ezel would probably underestimate her but she could use that to her advantage. Brute strength only got you so far, after all. Natsu and the rest of her cousins had been thorough with her training, and only a few years later they had deemed her worthy of going out on missions and jobs. She had to do well, had to make them proud of her and to live up to the rest of her family's reputation.

Ezel moved first, surprisingly faster than she thought he would. He lashed out with one of his long knives and Wendy nimbly ducked and slashed with her knife. It barely scratched him. Ezel delivered a nasty scratch to her leg. She gasped at the sting and instinctively put her hand on it to apply pressure. Wendy winced as her hand came back sticky with blood. That was probably going to need stitches when she got back. Then she would get a lecture from Porlyusica about being careless and "how could she expect to be a doctor if she was always fighting." Porlyusica's words, not hers. Absentmindedly she wished Chelia was with her. She shook her head and barely dodged Ezel's next attack. _Focus_. That had always been her problem as Gajeel and Rogue had constantly reminded her.

With her focus renewed, she countered Ezel's next move and got in a decent slash of her own across his preferred arm. She supposed one good thing of training to be a doctor was that she knew where people could get hurt. The idea of using knowledge that was meant for good to hurt people didn't resonate well with her. She hated the idea. But like Sting had told her so many times, "use anything to your advantage, it might save your life one day." It was said casually since Sting and Natsu were the masters of improv. They just had that spontaneous nature that made them naturals at taking whatever happened and making plans out of thin air. Wendy rolled as Ezel lunged for her head, forcing her out of her reverie.

She jabbed her knife up and gave him a deep cut on his calf. Her nose wrinkled at the black blood that was now pouring down Ezel's leg and dripping onto the floor. He didn't falter with his actions. No matter how deep the cuts were it didn't seem like it slowed him down or deterred him in any way, or at least any way that Wendy could tell. She knew that the Demons were strongly genetically engineered so they were hardly human at this point. Through her thoughts, she asked Hibiki if he had any information on Ezel or his weaknesses. Her fighting was based more on strategy than brute force unlike a lot of people in Fairy Tail and their allies. She had noticed that he was practically ambidextrous when it came to fighting so she'd have to severely hurt both of his arms or make it so he couldn't walk, or fight for that matter.

Wendy slid under his outstretched arm and left a deep cut at the top of his foot, near his ankle. Blood splattered on her arms and the warmth of it sent shivers through her.

"Brat!" Ezel roared and he lunged for her and swiped at her neck. Wendy stumbled backwards, the suddenness of her moving back confused her for a moment. Ezel kicked her and she flew into the wall. A metallic taste filled her mouth and the back of her head throbbed in agony. She leaned against the wall, but her reactions were too slow. A strong punch was delivered to her stomach and she slowly slid down the wall.

"Wendy!" a voice called from the doorway. Wendy opened her eyes, not even realizing she had closed them. "Hold on, let me help you!" A blur of pink moved in her vision and Ezel was pushed back by a blast of extremely compressed air While he was distracted, Wendy had enough time to draw her gun and started shooting at him. Chelia darted through the room and shoved a knife in the small gap between his ribs. Ezel coughed up blood.

"Your fight is not over. You still have to deal with _him_ , the Underworld King." With a maniacal laugh, Ezel slumped over and stopped breathing. When she was satisfied Ezel was well and truly dead, Chelia sprinted over to Wendy and helped her get up.

"We need to get you back to Porlyusica, we can worry about what he was talking about later. I have some first aid stuff with me, just in case you know, so let me fix you up and then Porlyusica can have another look." Chelia got out a roll of gauze, adhesive tape, and packets of rubbing alcohol pads.

"How did you find me?" Wendy croaked. Chelia stopped what she was doing and grabbed a small bottle of water and supported Wendy's neck so she could drink.

"Hibiki sent me your location; I got really concerned so I had to come see if you needed help. It looks like I showed up just in time."

"Thank you," Wendy whispered and she attempted to give her best friend a hug. Although it felt like one of her arms was broken; she didn't remember it breaking, but it must have been when she kind of blacked out when Ezel was beating her senseless.

"Can you stand?" Chelia asked when the worst of Wendy's cuts were cleaned and wrapped. Wendy shook her head bashfully. "Let me call Lyon or Jura to carry you, I can't do it by myself."

A couple of minutes later, Lyon practically ran into the room. "We need to get her to Porlyusica now. Wendy, you need to _stay awake_. Don't close your eyes ok?" She nodded, hearing the words but not really processing them. Wendy knew she needed to stay awake but her eyes were so _heavy_ and her body felt like it was made of lead. "Chelia keep her awake," Lyon commanded as he scooped her up and moved as fast as he could without causing her any more discomfort.

Thankfully they avoided the Knights and they dropped her off in the hospital floor. "What happened to you?" Gray demanded as Lyon gently laid her down in a bed.

"Lay off Gray, she needs to rest first. I'm sure Chelia can fill you in on what happened." Porlyusica was already hooking Wendy up to an IV and putting several electrodes on her wrists, neck, and chest.

"She's going to need stitches," Chelia commented and the pink-haired doctor nodded her head in agreement.

"She will, but she needs to be stable first. I'm sure she'll pull through; she's strong."

"Who else do we still have that can fight a Demon gate?" Rogue asked after Hibiki had relayed the news that Wendy and Chelia had defeated Ezel and that Wendy was now resting in the hospital ward.

"Lucy fought Franmalth, Natsu beat Jackal, Erza and Minerva beat Kyouka, Mirajane defeated Seilah, Gray dealt with Silver, and Juvia killed Keyes," Sting listed. "That leaves Torafuzar and Tempester."

"Is there anyone who can fight them and actually stand a chance?" Rogue asked and Sting shrugged his shoulders, casually punching someone in the throat.

"The Thunder Legion I believe is planning on taking down Tempester. Sparky was talking about getting revenge because apparently Tempester had seriously hurt Ever, Freed, and Bickslow. I can deal with Torafuzar. Sting and Rogue shared a glance and nodded.

"Good luck, come back to us in one piece Gajeel!" Sting yelled at his already retreating back.

 **I know it's not canon that Chelia helped Wendy, but I wanted to get more of her in, bc I love her and I think she's amazing and plus you learn a little bit more about Wendy. I love getting reviews from you, it really makes me happy so hmu w/ those reviews.** **Also if any of you are in southern Florida or the Gulf area in general, stay safe and be careful.**

 **See you guys later!**


	37. Chapter 37

**Hey guys I'm back. This is a Halloween special that describes Lucy's first Halloween w/ Fairy Tail and everyone else. Everything that happens is canon but you don't have to read it. There's one mention of self-harm but it's literally one or two sentences. The next chapter is coming soon, probably sometime in November. I'm going to try to get one chapter out each month because of school, but I still have time to write thankfully. Anyway, I fun writing this and I hope you guys enjoy it!**

Lucy woke up with a scream when she felt a large _thing_ on land on her bed. She lashed out and kicked whatever was on her bed with all of her strength, which had built up considerably since coming to Fairy Tail. A familiar voice screeched at her when he fell. "Luce!" A pink head popped up from the floor and glared at her. "What was that for?"

"For jumping into my bed like a maniac to wake me up!" Lucy yelled back. "Who does that?"

"Stop yelling Lucy," Happy mumbled as he lethargically flew in through the door. "it's too early in the morning." Lucy glanced at the hologram next to her to see that it was actually early; it wasn't even ten.

"Don't blame me! Blame your idiot owner for jumping on my bed like a child!"

"I'd tell you why, if you'd _stop yelling_ ," Natsu said, annoyed. Lucy crossed her arms and glared at him. "Sting and Rogue are hosting a Halloween party." Lucy's anger melted away instantaneously into child-like excitement. Natsu smiled as her eyes lit up and she started bouncing on the mattress.

"When do we leave?" Lucy asked.

"As soon as you can get ready," Natsu answered. "Sting said that Minerva and Yukino invited a lot of the girls from Fairy Tail and other gangs to go do hair or whatever the hell you guys do to get ready for parties."

"Is Evelyn coming?"

"Yeah, she's already up and eating breakfast. Now _come on_!" Natsu moved to leave the room before calling behind him, "we leave in half an hour!" When Natsu and Happy left the room, Lucy jumped out of bed and quickly pulled on jeans and a flowy, white long-sleeved shirt that Evelyn had bought her as an apology for how she had treated Lucy during the weeks following her rescue. After tugging on boots, she nearly tripped running down the stairs, and skidded to a halt in the kitchen.

"Don't be so clumsy Lucy," Happy chided and Lucy shot a murderous glare at the flying cat as she sat down to properly tie up her boots.

"Shut up Cat," she sneered. Natsu offered her a thermos and she grinned when she tasted hot chocolate. "Are we leaving now?" Natsu laughed.

"You're really excited about this aren't you?"

"I've never celebrated Halloween before. My father always thought it was too childish and not becoming for 'someone of our status'," she quoted at the thing she had her father say to her more than enough times throughout her life. Evelyn and Natsu shared a glance with each other and smiled knowingly.

"Sting and Rogue live in the same house?" Lucy asked as the group of four exited the house to the red sports car Natsu favored to use for casual, everyday activities.

"They basically lived together anyway, so when our parents disappeared it was easy for them to just be together and they kept each other company until they found Sabertooth," Evelyn explained.

"How did Sting become Sabertooth's leader if he's only been there for a few years?" Lucy questioned. She had met the cousins a couple of times but those had always been for strictly business and there had never been any time to ask them about their life.

"Sabertooth's old leader Jiemma was an asshole," Natsu began. "Everything in that gang revolved around proving to be stronger than everyone else and they had no allies, but Jiemma didn't care. He said that having allies meant that they were weak or some shit like that. Eventually Sting, Rogue, and Yukino had had enough and they had challenged him to a fight. Sting was the one who made the last blow so he was declared the winner. Up until now, Sabertooth had operated where whoever defeated the leader in a fight would get leadership." Lucy bit her lip and closely went through her memories to see if her father had ever mentioned anything about Sabertooth. She perked up when she remembered something she had heard in passing.

"My father once said that it was a shame that Jiemma had been removed because that meant there was one more problem to deal with," Lucy recalled. "I didn't know what he was talking about at the time, but what you're saying makes sense."

"The alliance between us, Sabertooth, Blue Pegasus, Lamia Scale, and Mermaid Heel is the strongest in the country," Evelyn added. "I could imagine your father's frustration." The last sentence sounded bitter but Lucy didn't blame her. Her father had put her through hell and she knew Evelyn was aching for revenge. On some level, so was she. But Lucy was satisfied with just knowing that her father had to see her with his enemies having fun and being happy was revenge enough. They hadn't seen each other since that short time after she had run away, when she told him that she was glad to be in Fairy Tail and that she was never going back to him. The fact that he had done nothing so far was concerning but Lucy was confident Natsu and the others were going to protect her no matter what. That was something she liked about Fairy Tail. It had been such a long time since there had been so many people who cared about her and the feeling was amazing.

"Come the fuck on!" Lucy was ripped out of her thoughts to see steam rising from Natsu's head as he violently tapped buttons on the panel in the car. "You've been to their house _a million fucking times_!" Evelyn had tears streaming down her face and Happy was openly laughing at Natsu's misfortune. Lucy bit her lip and her eyes showed a huge amount of amusement. "Can you stop laughing?" Natsu asked impatiently

"We'll stop laughing when the car starts working," Evelyn responded and Happy rolled onto his back, with tears streaming into his fur, Natsu glared at his younger sister who shot him an innocent expression.

Five minutes later when the car got the route and destination right, they were off. Natsu was blasting Halloween music and Evelyn was telling her entertaining stories of everyone from when they were younger. Natsu had a pout on his face as he listened to Evelyn's stories.

"Gray did not kick my ass!" Natsu protested. "Never in his life has Gray kicked my ass."

"If you asked him that the response would be different," Happy commented.

"Of course it would because Gray knows he can't beat me so he _has_ to lie to save face," Natsu explained. "It's completely logical!"

"Are you sure about that Natsu?" Lucy stayed quiet and looked at how Natsu's shoulders had tensed and how his jaw had clenched. Lucy's eyebrows furrowed. As far as she was aware, Evelyn disappearance was the only thing that had made Natsu feel bad. Maybe there was something else he hadn't told her yet. She resolved when they got to Sting and Rogue's house she would corner him and ask him what was wrong.

When they got to Sting and Rogue's house, Lucy gasped a breath. Their house, mansion was more accurate, was beautiful. In a similar style to Natsu's the outside was all white with light wood and gray paneling. A pool of light blue water was built along the front side of the house and most of the walls were glass. "This is amazing," Lucy said as she, Natsu, and Evelyn walked up to the front door.

"Our house is better," Natsu muttered and Lucy rolled her eyes. Of course he couldn't admit to anything being better than something of his.

"Hey guys!" Sting greeted as they knocked on their door. "You're the first ones here." Natsu gave Sting and Rogue high-fives, while the cousins swept Evelyn into huge hugs and she laughed as they spun her around. "Good to see you too Lucy."

"It's good to see you again too," Lucy returned the greeting with a small smile. "When are the others going to get here?"

"That eager to leave us already Lucy?" Sting teased and Lucy scoffed. "I don't know when the girls are going to get here, but I think most of the guys will be here within the hour or so."

"How have things been around here?" Natsu asked and Rogue sighed.

"We've had some trouble in town but nothing too serious. Jiemma's been opposing us some more and bringing _unwanted attention_ to the city, but we've kept it under control." Natsu nodded but he had a frown on his face.

"Come on inside," Sting widened the door in a gesture for them to come inside. The entry floor was all white tile and the glass banisters for the stairs showed the floor above and below them. Two pendant lights hung over a dining table and a small wall with shelves filled with pictures and books formed a kind of divider, blocking their view from whatever was behind it. "Frosch, Lector! Natsu, Happy, Evelyn, and Lucy are here!" Lucy didn't hear anything but Natsu tilted his head and smiled. A few moments later the sound of flapping wings was audible and the two Exceeds flew in.

"Hello," Frosch chirped while Lector waved.

"Great to see ya again Happy," Lector patted Happy on the back and Happy grinned at both of them.

"Yeah, I've missed you guys!" Sting turned back to them as the cats lazily flew away to go somewhere else.

"Come on in, we can get food or drinks if you want? We still need help with decorating too." Lucy cast a glance around and noticed that there were no Halloween decorations up yet.

"I want to help decorate!" Lucy volunteered enthusiastically and Natsu smiled at her fondly even though she didn't see it.

"It's Lucy's first time celebrating Halloween," Natsu told his cousins with a grin. "Your Halloween parties are always amazing though, so I'm sure she'll enjoy it." Sting and Rogue beamed at the praise and Sting gave a fake bow to Lucy.

"We'll have to go more over the top than we normally do then," Sting stated and Rogue smiled and nodded.

"We will; you'll love it," Rogue promised. Lucy was positively beaming and Natsu and Evelyn were smiling with her too. Lucy's enthusiasm was contagious. As Evelyn trotted after Sting and Rogue who were brainstorming Halloween decorations. Natsu smirked.

"It would be them to wait until literally an hour before everyone shows up to decorate," Natsu commented to no one in particular.

"Hey Natsu," Lucy started and he turned around to smile down at her. "About what happened in the car, when Evie was talking about Gray…" Instantly any emotion left his face and his eyes darkened in a threatening way. Lucy faltered at his reaction. She reached down to grab his hands and she gently rubbed her fingers over the scars on his wrists. "Do you still not trust me after everything that's happened?"

Natsu closed his eyes and sighed. He did trust her, that wasn't the issue at all. God knows she had seen him at some of his lowest moments so that didn't really matter to him. But it was still so difficult for him to admit anything that he perceived as showing weakness. That's why he hid away for weeks after Evelyn got kidnapped. Natsu tenderly removed her hands from his and just held them for a little bit. "Luce…" She stayed quiet while he struggled to decide what words to say.

He softly growled when nothing came to mind. She was the better one with words, always knowing what to say. Natsu settled for just pulling her into a hug. "I'll tell you one day, I promise." Lucy felt her face flush at his words and how carefully he was holding her. She slowly reciprocated the hug and held him tightly.

"Thank you," she whispered and Natsu just nodded. He knew what she was thanking him. For taking her in, even though one could argue that he theoretically kidnapped her, giving her a place to stay, and making her happy again. He also knew that she was grateful that he had let her in, when everyone else had stayed locked out tight for years.

"Come on lovebirds! We're getting out lights and pumpkins!" Evelyn called from the upper level and Natsu heard Sting laugh in the background. They disengaged from the hug and realized his face was lightly flushed as well.

"Let's go before they start spreading rumors," Natsu suggested and Lucy nodded with a smile on her face.

An hour later everyone else started to arrive. Cars were pulling up in front of Sting and Rogue's house while everyone was still bustling around inside stringing up purple and orange lights around pillars and the borders of doors. Pumpkins of various sizes were sitting on shelves and tables and jack o' lanterns were sitting in windows. Rogue had changed the colors of all of the pools outside to be orange so even the water was ready for Halloween. Sting and Rogue gave hugs to Minerva and Yukino. When the girls from Fairy Tail, Blue Pegasus, and Lamia Scale arrived Sting and Rogue greeted them warmly and politely. They had scooped up Wendy and twirled her around while she laughed uncontrollably. It warmed Lucy's heart to see how all of the cousins interacted with each other. She and Levy had hugged each other even though they had seen each other two days before.

"We're all going out," Erza declared immediately, gesturing to all of the girls that were gathered in their group. "Lots of shopping to be done. _All_ of you are getting costumes and _all_ of you are getting makeup done."

There was a chant of "yes ma'am" and all of the guys made eye contact and rolled their eyes. "How are we all going to go the mall? Take a million cars?" a blonde from Blue Pegasus asked and Chelia waved the question away.

"We brought our limo so we can all take it," Chelia answered. Wendy squealed in excitement.

The limo ride into town was loud. Everyone was chattering and music was playing the background. Bass from the current song was pulsing through the car but everyone was ignoring it, favoring to talk to each other instead of listening to music. Lucy was talking to Yukino who she hadn't met before Erza was having a conversation with Minerva over something while Mirajane and a blonde girl from Blue Pegasus were glaring daggers at each other. Lucy reached over and tapped Erza on the shoulder.

"Do they not like each other?" Lucy gestured to where Mirajane and the other blonde were still looking like they were ready to kill each other.

"They can get along, but they do tend to argue a lot. They were rivals when they were younger," Erza informed and Lucy nodded in understanding. She didn't understand what it was with this group of people and how everyone could care for each other so much while fighting almost 24/7.

When they arrived in town, Erza, Mirajane, and Jenny, that was the name for the blonde who was rivals/friends with Mira, herded them towards Heart Kreuz. Much like they had done the first time Lucy had gone out with the girls, they instantly went to the interactive mirrors and then raced around the shop grabbing clothes off of hangers then charging for the dressing rooms. Evelyn was walking with Lucy and Levy when she and Levy shared devious smirks.

"Hey Lu, I think you should wear something red for tonight," Levy suggested and Lucy narrowed her eyes.

"And why is that Levy?" Lucy had a suspicion.

"Evie told me that Nastu—"

"No, Levy," Lucy interrupted. "I'm not going to match Natsu. If I match Natsu then you have to match Gajeel." Lucy wiggled her eyebrows and smirked. Evelyn smothered her laughs by slapping her hand over her mouth.

"How do you know what Gajeel is going as?"

"Natsu was making fun of him for it," Evelyn told her. "When we got home, he kept laughing about how Gajeel couldn't pull off being a superhero, saying that his hair wasn't right for it."

"Then what's Natsu going to be?" Levy fired back.

"A demon," Evelyn replied.

"You seem kind of defensive Levy," Lucy taunted and she loved seeing Levy's face immediately flush red. It was a nice change of pace. They continued talking while they walked around the store, occasionally pulling dresses off of hangers before heading to the changing rooms.

Evelyn went in first and came out wearing one of the white strapless dresses that she had found. Lucy later found out that she was planning on going as an angel. "I would need to find a halo," she murmured, "but I really like this dress." She turned back to Lucy and Levy after she finished admiring herself in the mirror. "What do you think?"

"I love it," Lucy exclaimed. "It's so pretty." Levy nodded in agreement and smiled.

"You should definitely get it," Levy confirmed. Then Levy went into the changing room and came out several times until she found a dress that she was satisfied with. Her dress was a light pink with delicate lace and bead patterns. A see-through piece of fabric was attached to the back.

"What are you going to be Levy?" Evelyn asked as she leaned against the wall, looking up from her phone.

"A pixie," Levy stuttered, like she was afraid to tell them. Evelyn just shrugged.

"Don't worry if you think it's a silly costume," Evelyn reassured. "Erza's going as a fairy queen, so I think you'll be in the clear."

"Is there something wrong with that Evelyn?" a voice that had a hint of warning in it said from behind her. Evelyn swore under her breath. She hadn't seen Erza approach her.

"Not at all," Evelyn hastily corrected herself. "Levy was just worried about going as a pixie because she thought it would be considered a silly costume."

"Fairies and pixies _are_ similar," Erza mused before her face lit up. "Let's wear similar dresses!" Levy didn't have time to protest before Erza was dragging her away. Lucy and Evelyn shared a laugh at Levy's exasperated face.

"She hasn't changed at all," Natsu's little sister mused as they watched Erza haul Levy around the store to various racks of dresses. "I don't know why I was expected her to." She smiled to herself and pushed Lucy towards the changing room. "Go try on the red dress we picked out for you!" After a minute or so Lucy came out, looking slightly uncomfortable.

"I'm not sure how I feel about this," she admitted as she looked at the tight, short, red dress she was wearing. The fabric was a beautiful shimmery red which she loved.

"Don't be ridiculous you look amazing," Evelyn waved away her statement. "You should take it."

"You look really good in that Lucy," Mirajane complimented as she walked by with a black dress in tow.

"Thank you for agreeing with me Mira," Evelyn said. "You definitely need to take it." Lucy bit her lip but she had to agree, she did look good in the dress.

"Fine, I'll buy it."

"Does anyone know when the girls will be back?" Rogue asked as all of the guys were scrambling to decorate Sting and Rogue's mansion.

"Evie said that Erza just dragged them to a bakery and she wants to pick up cake for tonight, so I'd imagine we still have a good two hours," Natsu called as he was trying to untangle the purple and orange lights that were going to be strung across ceilings, bordering doorways, and wrapped around banisters.

"It'll be ok if we don't finish in time, though right?" Lyon asked. Natsu, Sting, Rogue, Gajeel, and all of the other Fairy Tail members looked horrified at the thought.

"She'd strangle us if we didn't finish after we told her we would!" Natsu cried before dramatically adding, "I'm too young to die."

"Shut up Natsu!" Gray yelled from the floor above. Natsu smirked and continued to work on untangling the string of lights. After five more minutes of having no success, he felt his frustration and anger build up.

"Hey Sting?" Natsu asked his younger cousin who was working in the same room, but instead was focusing on the sound system and speakers. When he stopped to look over at Natsu he had to hold in a laugh. The scowl on Natsu's face was one that Sting had only made him see in the middle of fights, but instead of people it was directed at lights that had seemed to become more meshed together than they had been before.

"Need some help?" Sting offered and Natsu glared at him.

"You don't have to look so smug about it," Natsu huffed as his cousin sat down on the floor and pulled the mess of wires towards him.

"What the hell did you _do_?" Sting snickered. Natsu crossed his arms and continued to glare at the heap of lights. As Sting was toying with the wires Natsu let his mind wander to what had happened earlier.

One day he would tell her everything; he hadn't been lying. He'd tell her how when he woke up that morning to find Igneel gone, his first thought had been he left because of something he had done. She already knew how much he had hated himself when he had let Evelyn go to Crocus alone. He sighed and shook his head, clearing the memories from his mind. That was all past him now.

"You ok?" Sting asked when he noticed his cousin had zoned out.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Natsu reassured him and gave a somewhat forced smile. Sting didn't necessarily believe him but he let it slide. "Who's doing the food and drinks?" Natsu questioned and Sting was still fiddling with wires, although they were becoming less and less untangled while Natsu was lost in his thoughts.

"The pretty boys from Blue Pegasus are working on it. Their front is basically acting as a café for the rich and famous so they can't be all bad cooks."

"You know a good host would have had all of this done _before_ the guests arrived," Natsu teased and Sting gently punched him. "We've got it covered and if we can get this done before the girls get back we'll be golden." Natsu had to nod in agreement. "Besides it's good bonding time." Sting wasn't so sure he should have said that as voices raised from the floor below them.

They remained silent as they heard Gajeel screaming at Gray and Natsu laughed. "And I got them untangled." Natsu sighed in relief.

"Thanks man. I can get the rest of them hung up by myself. Go and start screwing around with the sound system again."

Natsu trailed through the house and took his time taping up lights to the side of every counter and around the perimeter of each window. Natsu smiled when he saw the electric jack o' lanterns that Evie had put out before everyone else arrived. It would be nice celebrating Halloween with her again. Normally after the Halloween party, they would go back home and drink apple cider while sitting in front of the fire and they would just talk. Nothing in particular, just about whatever entered their mind.

When he entered the kitchen, he did see the 'pretty boys' of Blue Pegasus preparing small snacks and dishes while have a bowl of light pink punch sitting on the counter and beside it were small cups with an orange slice put in them. "This smells amazing you guys," Natsu commented and Hibiki grinned.

"Well if you think the food smells good then _everyone_ is going to like it," Hibiki said. "We made some salsa out of ghost peppers for you." Natsu's face lit up at the thought of spicy food that no one but him was going to eat. They heard a car pull up in front of the house and Ren swore under his breath.

"Fuck. The girls are here," he announced. There was a mad dash for Sting's bedroom where all of the guys had stored their costumes. Natsu quickly changed into his red, long-sleeved, buttoned up shirt and black slacks.

"Why are you two morons wearing togas?" he heard Gajeel ask Sting and Rogue.

"We're being gods this year," Rogue informed him and Gajeel laughed his rough laugh. He saw Gray dressed as Jack Frost, and got pissed when Lyon was wearing something similar. With his eyesight he could see Juvia wearing a light blue dress and had her hair curled and he knew there was going to be a lot of drama between the three people tonight.

Everyone scrambled down the stairs to hastily open the door so the girls wouldn't yell at them.

Lucy gasped at the sight of the house once again. Purple and orange lights glowed in the windows and all of the colors lit up the grass in front of the house. Spiderwebs were strung up in trees and there was a skeleton hanging up on the door. Before Erza could knock, Sting opened the door and greeted them with a big grin.

"Welcome back guys," he moved to let them in and there were more gasps of amazement. The lights were twisted around the metal banisters and ominous music played through invisible speakers.

Lucy glanced around for Natsu and found him with a red shirt that was very similar to her dress. She silently swore at Levy and promised to get revenge on her for doing this to her. But he did look good. She suddenly felt self-conscious but Natsu's face lit up when he saw her and Evelyn. He cut through the throng of people to greet them.

"Both of you look amazing," he grinned and beamed at them but his eyes lingered a little more on Lucy. "How was shopping?" He seemed to already knew what they were going to say.

"Erza decided to have a similar dress as Levy because fairies are similar to pixies apparently and then she spent an hour and a half looking at cakes," Lucy summarized and Evelyn nodded with a smile. Evelyn tilted her head and deeply inhaled.

"The food smells amazing," she moaned and she made her way to the kitchen. Natsu collected himself and smiled again at Lucy.

"You _do_ look amazing," he repeated and she blushed.

"Levy and Evie practically forced me to buy it," Lucy murmured. "I wasn't sure about it or not." He held out his hand.

"Come on," he smiled warmly and Lucy took his hand and he gently lead her to the kitchen. The glass table in front of the kitchen island had lights taped under the glass and a pumpkin was sitting in the center. Platters of food were displayed on the white countertop of the island and Lucy tentatively looked at the drinks that had been put out in the shape of a skull.

"What is this?" Lucy asked Natsu, not sure if she wanted to take a drink or not. Lucy saw Cana already had two glasses in each hand and was steadily drinking from each one while she flirted with Hibiki. Cana must have felt Lucy's gaze on her because she gestured to Natsu subtly and arched an eyebrow with a smirk. Lucy turned bright red at what Cana was insinuating and she turned away.

"It's just some fruity punch. It's really good." She noticed Natsu already had a glass in hand and was taking a sip of it. Instead she reached out and grabbed a slider that was on one of the platters and delicately took a bite.

"Could I get some water instead?" she asked nervously, not wanting to be judged by him. He just gave her an understanding look and went to the fridge.

"Hey Lu," Levy said as she went to stand next to her. "Having fun yet?"

"Yeah, I am. The food is really good." They giggled before Levy scanned the room.

"Looking for Gajeel?" Lucy taunted. "Maybe I should have made you wear black, so you two could match also." Levy blushed.

"So you noticed, huh?" Levy shrugged. "Oh well." Levy frowned as she stopped looking around and focused on one spot. Lucy followed her gaze and sighed when she saw what had caught Levy's attention. Gray was standing with Juvia while Lyon seemed to be arguing with him. Lucy never wanted to get involved in the mess that those three had.

"They act like such children," Lucy muttered. She felt a warm hand on her shoulder and turned around to see Natsu holding out a glass of water. "Thank you Natsu." She also saw that he had a plate piled with food and she had no idea how none of the food had fallen over yet. After this do you want to dance?" Lucy blushed and nodded.

"Shrimp," Gajeel called out to Levy as he walked up to them. "Come get food with me." Lucy looked with a smirk as Levy walked off with Gajeel. Lucy followed Natsu out to the deck where they sat on two chairs and ate quietly. Or she was quiet at least, Natsu always ate food loudly and while she had found it kind of appalling she grew to learn that that was just how Natsu was.

Music started swelling through the sound system again when Natsu began finishing up and he grinned. He had grabbed another drink at some point but Lucy couldn't bring herself to care. "Come on, tonight will be the best I promise."

Evelyn was asleep with her head resting against the cool window of the car. Lucy and Natsu were sitting side by side silently. "I'm sorry if I was kind of a jerk earlier," Natsu apologized and Lucy knew what he was talking about. "Just give me some time and then I'll tell you everything." Lucy stayed silent before giving a slight smile up at him. She hesitated but voiced what she had been considering for a couple of weeks.

"I want to get revenge on my father." Natsu raised his eyebrow and Lucy hasted to explain her decision. "Just for everything he put me through, and everything he put you through, and for what he did to Evelyn—."

"We will, I promise. But let's just enjoy the rest of the night and forget about that for a while." Lucy nodded and she rested her head on his shoulder and he moved to hold her hand. When they had arrived him, Natsu had made himself, Lucy, and Evelyn apple cider and they had lit the fireplace. They stayed up for another hour or so before Evelyn excused herself to go to sleep. A few minutes later Lucy decided to head up to go to sleep as well and Natsu walked up the stairs with her. When she reached her door, she expected Natsu to say goodnight and leave but he didn't. It almost looked like he was having an argument with himself but he sighed.

"It's been a long day," Natsu stated. He followed Lucy into the room and crawled into the bed with her.

"You do know you have a room, right?" Lucy asked, just to make sure he remembered. Natsu chuckled and confirmed that he did, in fact, remember that he had his own room.

"I feel better sleeping with you," he confessed, with a slight pink staining his cheeks. "You keep the nightmares away." Lucy gave a bashful smile and she relaxed. She grinned up at the glow-in-the-dark stars that she had painted on the ceiling. Tonight was fun and she couldn't wait to celebrate other holidays with her new family.

 **This is a story mainly told through Lucy's or Natsu's point of view so there will be mentions of other ships but they won't have as much attention and development. I'll see you guys later and I hope you have a good and safe Halloween!**


	38. Chapter 38

**Hey guys! To all of the American followers, I hope you guys had a good Thanksgiving. Winter break is coming up so I'm planning to write more since I'll have a month off and so I can use the next couple of weeks to focus on studying for finals. I've been debating about doing another holiday special, which would be canon to the plot, or to continue with the actual story so let me know your thoughts. Anways, enjoy!**

Gajeel had fought strong opponents before, it was practically a requirement in his life at this point, but Torafuzar looked different than the rest of the enemies he fought. Mostly because there was a large fish-like fin protruding from his back. The Demon Gate wasn't facing him so the fin was the first thing Gajeel saw. A distant memory of Gray being forced to put a shark fin on his back because he lost a bet flashed through his mind, but he stifled his chortling. Silently, he drew one of his throwing knives and hurled it at the Demon's back. It harmlessly bounced off of his back which, Gajeel realized a bit too late, was covered in scales. The knife clattered to the floor and the Demon slowly turned around.

He kept his face as neutral as possible, knowing that if he lost to a Demon after Natsu had already defeated one, he would never hear the end of it. And as much as he loved his cousin, he couldn't allow him to pass him up when it came to a fight. He could already hear Natsu's taunts and just thinking about it irked him.

"You're one of those pathetic Fairies?" the Demon asked and Gajeel scowled.

"You won't be calling me pathetic after I beat the shit out of you," Gajeel replied. He was confident in his fighting skills, but he knew this fight was going to be more difficult than any of the others that he had been in so far. But he knew he had to win this fight. Losing wasn't an option for him. If he lost, his cousins wouldn't give him a break, and he felt that he would be disgracing his father's legacy.

Metalicana had been an amazing fighter and he had taught Gajeel everything he knew. When Metalicana had disappeared Gajeel had followed Natsu and Wendy to Fairy Tail, since he was closer to Natsu and Wendy than Sting or Rogue. The Dragons, what Igneel, Metalicana, Grandine, Weisslogia, and Skiadrum had been called, had been feared and respected. Natsu, Wendy, Sting, Rogue, and himself had been trained to fight from a young age. All of them lived in separate houses but they had seen each other a lot of the time anyway; whenever there were meetings they would all be together. Most of the time they had gone off to play or fight on their own since they weren't allowed into meetings. It was only when they were about eight that they got to sit in on their parents' meetings. That was around the same time that they had gone out and started to do things with their parents too. Gajeel remembered going on his first job with Metalicana when he was nine.

They had gone to some place in Acalypha. They needed to get information from one of the regional treasury branches and Metalicana had deemed the mission easy enough for Gajeel to come along. Gajeel still remembered his first real adrenaline rush when he was keeping watch for any guards as his father had hacked into a vault.

That same adrenaline rush filled his veins again at the prospect of such a dangerous fight. It was a feeling he had gotten addicted to a long time ago. He slid on the gloves that had sharp steel spikes on his knuckles and fingers. It had been something Levy had designed for him as a Christmas gift. He gave a small smile at the memory before clearing it out of his head. He couldn't be distracted in a fight, especially not one that was so important and had so much determination over what the future would be like. If they lost this fight, it would be incredibly difficult to come back from it. Losing this fight could spell the end of their world.

~~~~Line break~~~~

Levy was busy monitoring the cameras all over the city that were Fairy Tail had access to. Seeing her city being ruined and covered in blood hurt her heart. Her brown eyes widened when she saw Gajeel run onto the Cube with nothing but his knife and his gun. "No, what are you doing you idiot?" Levy wanted to rip her hair out. He was always rushing into situations like this and one day he was going to slip up and be too reckless. She dreaded the day that happened.

She had been at Fairy Tail before Gajeel, Natsu, and Wendy had come along. Originally, she hadn't liked Natsu one bit. He was too rambunctious and found pleasure in disrupting her from her reading and research. Gajeel had immensely enjoyed taunting her, both with his words and his actions. Her opinions of him had started to shift when he had saved her during their fight with Phantom Lord. She, Jet, and Droy had been used to make an example of and Gajeel had been the one to rescue the three of them. He had helped get them down from the tree they were tied to and brought them to Porlyusica and Wendy immediately. He had checked on Levy once or twice every day up until she was released. A tentative friendship had begun to flourish after that. Gajeel had tagged along on some jobs Team Shadowgear had gone on that he considered dangerous. Levy had listened to his jazz music and its… _uniqueness_ had grown on her.

Levy teased Lucy about her and Natsu but Lucy teased her just as much as her not-at-all-romantic relationship with Gajeel. She had grown quite fond of him and now whenever he got into situations like the one he was currently in made her worry.

"You worried about something Lev?" Jet asked as he walked up behind her and peered at the screens. "That bolt-brain again?" Levy was well aware that Jet and Droy were jealous of Gajeel because he got more attention from her than they did sometimes. Not only that, but Jet and Droy had known her for much longer than Gajeel so they felt that he had stolen her away from them.

"He's always putting himself in these situations," she murmured, not speaking to anyone in particular. Over the network communicator she said "stay safe and don't do anything stupid Gajeel."

"Too late for that," Natsu said in response to Levy's message. "He already knows if he dies I'm going to kick his ass." Levy managed a weak chuckle at Natsu's words. She knew he was right; Gajeel wasn't allowed to die. All of Fairy Tail would bring him back to life and kill him again for even thinking of dying in the first place.

Levy looked quickly at the screens and then turned to Jet. "Can you take my place for a minute? I want to go check on everyone at the infirmary." Jet nodded and took Levy's place in front of the screens in the security room.

The ride up to the infirmary was quiet and there was too much silence for the ride to be comfortable. The only thing breaking up the silence was the beeping of the elevator that occurred with each passing floor. When the elevator doors opened Levy stepped in and was immediately greeted with a glare from Porlyusica. "These kids need their rest." There were sputters of protest that 'no they were not kids!' all of them had yelled in unison. Porlyusica just clicked her tongue.

"You can stay for five minutes," the doctor relented and left the room. Levy liked at all of her friends who were lying in bed and hooked up to IVs and other devices.

"Are you guys holding up ok?" Gray tried to shrug before wincing in pain.

Juvia answered for everyone, "I think all of us have felt better."

"Are you ok Levy?" Mira asked concernedly. "You seem kind of shaken." Levy sighed.

"Gajeel went to the Cube to fight one of the demons," Levy informed them. "I'm worried about him."

"What else has happened?" Gray asked as he used his arms to prop himself up to look at her.

"Natsu killed Jackal, and Jellal and Meredy are bringing Erza and Minerva here now, they beat Kyouka."

"How badly are they hurt?" Wendy piped up.

"Kyouka specializes in torture so she gave them drugs to increase their susceptibility to pain. It looked like they were bleeding a lot but they'll need a lot of painkillers. They looked like they were in really bad shape."

"Fucking demons," Gray swore under his breath. "I'm glad they're dying after they gave us so much trouble."

"Natsu must have been thrilled to kill Jackal. He's wanted to kill him ever since they first fought each other, but he said he didn't have the right excuse," Juvia added. Mira turned back to Levy, changing the topic from Natsu to Gajeel. For once, she didn't tease her about their relationship status and instead offered words of comfort.

"I wouldn't worry about Gajeel too much Levy," she reassured her friend. "He'll be fine. He's been in tough situations before and he's gotten out of them relatively unharmed." Mira looked out the window towards the chaos enfolding in the streets below them. "You have to have faith that he'll pull through." Levy tried to let the words dissolve the knot of tension in her stomach but the nervousness she felt didn't reassure her like the words were meant to.

 **So yeah, more Gajevy and you finally get to see their history and where their relationship is** ** _at the moment_** **. Leave me reviews! I love reading about your thoughts and they give me inspiration to write more. See you guys next time!**


	39. Chapter 39

**Merry Christmas! The timing of this was actually completely unintentional but I'm glad that this will be released in time for Christmas. I hope the holidays have been going well for everyone. I ended the semester pretty well for my first round of finals. I've been debating starting a new story which is a collection of canon oneshots from this universe when I don't have as much inspiration to write this particular story. Please review or PM me of what opinions you have of this. I'm sorry if this chapter has been really short but the constant fight scenes have been difficult to write for me. Shoutout to FairyTailxFanGirl for reviewing, I'm so glad you like this story. Anyways, enjoy.**

Laxus had to basically threaten the rest of his thunder legion into letting him fight Tempester alone. If they had been with him, he would have been too worried about them to focus on fighting, He had ordered them to hang back and deal with mercenaries Tartaros had hired and the Era Knights who could pose a potential threat. The thought of them losing their lives was what would push Laxus to persevere through the coming ordeal, so he could protect what was most important to him.

They had all met when they were children. Makarov had taken Laxus away from his father Ivan, because he had been an abusive piece of shit. The old man had hired Porlyusica to make him healthy again and it was in that time when he had been staying in the infirmary floor where he had met Freed, Bickslow, and Evergreen. Makarov had taken them in after he had found the wandering the streets of Magnolia by themselves, in pitiful condition. None of them had been particularly loud but there were small, quiet conversations whenever Porlyusica was out of the room When they had been deemed healthy enough and had been allowed to leave, the four of them had been glued to each other ever since. When Laxus had been sent away for…disciplinary reasons, the remaining team members had not teamed up with anyone else and they were the happiest ones to see Laxus come back. Externally he had been shown to seem embarrassed and exasperated with their constant doting and all the hugs and the tears, but inside he was overjoyed and was glowing with happiness over the fact that he had been missed so much. The devotion of his friends genuinely touched him which is why he was so determined to protect them.

Evergreen had ran into the demon known as Tempester a few years ago, shortly after he had returned from his punishment. She had returned covered in bruises and cuts and had a few broken bones. At the time, he didn't have the time or the resources to hunt the demons down, so he couldn't settle the score. Laxus was determined to get revenge.

From what Ever had told him, Tempester fought in a weird way, calling out strange sounds to indicate which weapon he would be using. He didn't know what the weapons were but he was sure that they were terrible and brutal. His fingers brushed against his ray gun that was given to him as a welcome back gift after he had come back from his exile.

Like most of the weapons for personal use, they were designed to fit the person wielding them. Laxus's gun was an electron beam ray which he used in addition to hand-to-hand combat. The demon turned around to glare at him.

"Are you who I'm supposed to be fighting?" the demon growled.

"I need to repay the pain that you put one of my friends through," Laxus replied in a steady, yet menacing tone. Tempester made a big show of cracking his knuckles before glaring at Laxus.

"Let's see you try to follow through on that; I bet you'll give up as easily as your pathetic friend did." Laxus snarled and lunged at the demon.

Gajeel didn't need to be all-knowing to get the feeling that Levy was no doubt calling him an idiot and panicking for charging into this situation completely unprepared. He allowed a smirk to grace his face at imagining her facial expression and the lecture he would get when he was recovering in the infirmary. That scene had played out many, many times since he had joined Fairy Tail. He would by laying in his bed and Levy would start yelling at him after Porlyusica had already given him a stern talking-to and forcing him to promise to never behave so recklessly again. Gajeel had been promising that for the last six years and never once had he actually kept it. He was too impulsive for that. Still, the thought of Levy yelling at him was enough to make him want to get through this fight alive. It was hilarious seeing her get riled up like that, especially since he was at least half a foot taller than her.

He rolled out of the way as Torafuzar charged towards him and shot an iron bolt out of his gun that embedded itself in the demon's shin. A spurt of black blood splattered onto the metal ground and Gajeel wrinkled his nose in disgust. _Damn demons_ , he thought. He was too distracted to see the fist flying at him and sent him headfirst into the wall. Gajeel tasted blood in his mouth as his head slammed into the metal surface. Spots momentarily danced in his vision as he leaned against the wall for support. Before he had time to fully recover the demon was on him again. It took all of his concentration to dodge the attacks from his opponent. He landed a kick on the demon's stomach, earning him time to breathe and gather his bearings before launching his own attack. Gajeel drew out a wickedly sharp knife that was a bit shorter than his forearm and charged the demon who was in the process of getting up.

A series of lacerations were created on the demon's purplish skin. Gajeel knew in terms of strength, he was outmatched. Yes, he was weirdly strong, but he knew that he couldn't beat this demon just by beating him up. If he was going to win, he needed to do it by wearing Torafuzar out and blood loss seemed like the easiest, fastest option to get this fight over with. Black blood was dripping on the floor from the demon's cuts and more and more slices appeared in the demon's tough skin.

"Bad mistake," Torafuzar smirked as he slammed a fist into Gajeel's stomach, slamming him into the wall once again. "That wall seems to be receiving more damage from you than I am!" Gajeel snarled and narrowed his eyes.

"You know they always say that those that talk the most are less strong than their opponents," Gajeel taunted. "Are you going to keep blabbering or are you going to get serious and fight me?" Torafuzar let a cruel smile creep across his face.

"You're just dying for a beating aren't you?"

"Less talking, more fighting," Gajeel retorted and nearly got whiplash turning his head to avoid a blow dealt by the demon. Torafuzar got thrown off balance and that was when Gajeel struck. He lashed out with a kick that made contact with the demon's chest followed by a punch that should have broken an ordinary person's nose. Instead, Gajeel felt as if his hand had just been severely bruised. He shook his hand out before driving his other fist into the demon's face before he could recover. He landed more kicks and punches before driving his knife into Torafuzar's throat. Gajeel shuddered as his hand was covered in warm, sticky black blood. The demon coughed up more blood and stumbled back, tripping over his feet in the process. When Torafuzar fell the floor shook and Gajeel let out a strained laugh.

"The floor is taking a bad beating from you also," he commented before slumping against the metal well and losing consciousness.

From the tower, Levy saw what was happening and immediately rushed out of the room, ignoring everyone's protests at her actions. Into the network communicator she spoke to Sting and Rogue asking for their help in retrieving Gajeel from the Cube. Levy wasn't strong enough to carry him off by herself, and she wasn't much of a fighter.

"You're so concerned for our cousin," Sting teased as he and Rogue accompanied Levy to find their cousin and bring him up to the infirmary.

"Well no one else in the room was going to get him," Levy huffed. "The others in there aren't great fighters and they're concerned about him but they weren't about to risk their lives for him."

"You know Natsu did mention that the two of you have been hanging out a lot," Rogue informed in an off-handed way.

Levy flushed and snapped back, "what are you trying to imply Cheney? The two of us are just friends!" She marched ahead of them and followed the map to where Gajeel was lying passed out on the floor.

"It just looks like a concussion," Rogue observed as he and Sting moved to pick him up. "Porlyusica can treat him in no time." Levy nodded, knowing that Rogue was correct but seeing Gajeel passed out and beaten up like he was made Levy's heart sink. All of their best fighters were being taken out and there was still the Underworld King, Mard Geer to deal with. Levy didn't really know where Lucy was, other than that she was with Natsu and Evelyn but that wasn't reassuring. She knew that Natsu would keep both of them safe, but she also knew that he would sacrifice himself for them to live. Sting and Rogue were still in the fight, as were the people from Lamia Scale but… She still was feeling nervous for the upcoming fight which promised to be the most challenging of them all.

 **Please review, it will make my day. Enjoy the rest of the holidays and have a good new year!**


	40. Chapter 40

**Hey guys! So the schedule I have for myself is the last Friday of each month, maybe with some oneshots thrown in there. Second semester has started and I love all of my classes so far, but there's a lot of reading. Also the writing block for writing fights is real. Tbh I'm so tired of writing fight scenes. If anyone has any suggestions please review. Anyways, enjoy.**

Natsu was leading Evelyn and Lucy through the maze of cold, metal hallways that lead towards the entrance of the Cube. Natsu had put whatever was bothering him out of his mind and was purely focused on dealing with the Knights. As they got closer and closer to the entrance the chaos that was ensuing outside became more and more audible. Evelyn recoiled at the noise and her face got pale.

"You ok Evie?" Natsu asked and he slowed his pace so his sister and Lucy could catch up. She just shook her head and she curled up on the floor. Her eyes were squeezed shut and her hands were clamped over her ears. "Shit," he muttered, "Evie, hold on." Without hesitating, he pulled off his beloved scarf and wrapped it around her head so her ears were covered. "Our senses were enhanced but at least the sound will be muted." Natsu scooped his little sister up and turned to Lucy. "We need to hurry up."

"Just close your eyes Evie; we'll be back soon," Lucy comforted. The girl nodded and buried her face in her brother's neck. "We have to move fast. Once we get her back we can deal with the Knights and everyone else." Natsu nodded and they set off at a sprint.

"Can you cover for me? I won't be able to fight if I'm carrying her like this," Natsu called and Lucy nodded and drew her gun. They mostly stuck to the shadows and kept as far away from the streets as they could. Streaks of pink were running through the sky, indicating that they had spent more time than they had thought in the Cube. "Damn it, this will make everything more difficult." Natsu poured on more speed and Lucy struggled to keep up. The scene in front of them looked more gruesome than it did at night. All the blood splattered on the ground became more apparent and the ground was littered with the wounded, mostly from Tartaros and the Knights. It seemed to Lucy like all of their allies and friends had been moved as soon as possible if they had been wounded at all. Natsu slowed enough to check in with Sting and Rogue who were scratched but nothing too drastic or serious.

"What's wrong with Evie?" Sting asked as he looked her over with concern. Rogue was standing next to him but was silent, although the concern was evident in his face.

"She had some sort of flashback while we were leaving the Cube. I think the Knights and all of the violence triggered her," Lucy explained. They nodded sadly and Rogue gently patted her head.

"Take care of her," Sting said and Natsu glared at him.

"Do you really think I wouldn't?" Natsu yelled and Lucy elbowed him in the ribs.

"Be quiet, you just drew attention to us!" Lucy hissed. "We need to go now, thanks to your outburst." Natsu sighed and nodded at his cousins before he and Lucy ran off. Yells and gunshots echoed off the glass buildings that were starting to gleam pink in the early morning light. It reflected off of the shattered glass in the streets that Lucy was carefully picking her way around to avoid tearing her shoes up. She had bought the black combat boots on one of Erza's shopping sprees that she forced the other girls to attend. Knights had darted past them, but they ducked in between allies between buildings before they could be seen. Evelyn had seemed to fall asleep and she was blissfully ignoring the violent sights and sounds all around them.

They made it to the Tower without any incidents. The elevator ride was silent while they traveled up to the bar and lounge floor. Murmurs of hushed conversations carried through the room and they fell silent as the elevator doors slid opened. Natsu ignored everyone and went straight to Bisca and Alzack. "Who the hell let Evelyn leave?" he growled. The married couple shared a glance and Bisca sighed.

"Porlyusica let her leave with Lisanna," the green haired woman told him reluctantly. "We didn't know that she would leave," Bisca defended. Natsu grit his teeth and whirled around.

"We're going up to the infirmary and then we're going back down," he told Lucy and he stalked towards the elevator. Lucy followed without saying a word, knowing that only talking to him would make him more frustrated. Even so, she laid a hand on his arm. Lucy felt his muscles tense, but he didn't reject her touch. Natsu took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.

"I can't get angry at her because she'll get offended and leave," Natsu muttered darkly. "After this is over I'm definitely going to have a talk with her about letting Evie leave the building after I specifically told everyone to not let her leave."

"She was feeling confined," Lucy explained gently. "She was probably feeling that if she didn't get out she was going to lose her mind." Lucy smiled sadly. She had felt that way only mere months ago.

"She could have gotten hurt," Natsu whispered. It sounded like he was talking to himself more than he was talking to her. "She could've died. Right after I've gotten her back, I could have lost her." He tightened his grip on his sister as the words left his mouth. As the doors slid open, Natsu's earlier anger returned.

"How could you let her leave?" he yelled at Porlyusica, completely forgetting that she could easily leave of her own volition. She was a talented doctor and although nothing rivaled the amount of money Makarov was paying her, she could still be rich working for someone else.

"She was becoming too restless and she could have left by herself," Porlyusica snapped. "It was safer for her to go with someone else than to go off alone." Natsu's face was still set in a snarl but the fight seemed to leave him. His shoulders sagged and he laid Evelyn down on one of the beds.

"Take care of her. We're going back down," Natsu ordered and he turned to leave without exchanging words with anyone else. Lucy lingered behind and glanced back at their friends that were lying on the beds injured.

"Get well soon guys," she wished before following Natsu who was waiting in the elevator. They stood in silence before Natsu spoke again.

"I need to get a flamethrower if we're going to distract the Knights," was all he said. Lucy bit her lip and she wanted to comfort him but she had a feeling that if she tried, she would be shaken off and Natsu would avoid the conversation. The elevator music was jazz but Natsu didn't change it or rant about it like he normally would have. His eyes were darkened with ice cold rage. When the doors slid open, Lucy didn't leave. Instead Natsu darted in, grabbed a flamethrower and walked in as the doors closed. Nothing was said until they were back on the streets.

"Ready to have some fun Luce?" he asked with a manic grin and Lucy smiled back hesitantly.

"Sure," she replied, not really getting the same feeling Natsu was obviously experiencing. The bloodlust that was present in his eyes were disturbing. But then again, she supposed that he was used to taking out his anger and frustration through fighting so maybe it was natural for him to be like this. Especially since he had just gone through an emotional roller coaster in the past hour and a half. She sighed and followed him as he fired at a car that belonged to the Era Knights. The sound of the explosion dominated over the chorus of yells and gunshots that pierced the morning air. "Hey Natsu?" He just glanced in her direction to acknowledge her. "Who pays for all the damage done to the city." His face fell and he rolled his eyes.

"We have to. We defend the city and our reward is to pay the city thousands of jewels. It's annoying." Lucy blanched at how Natsu seemed surprised that they had to pay for the property damage. In her opinion, he should be used to it by now. From what she had gathered about Fairy Tail's antics was that property damage was their signature and had been since it was created. She smiled at that and followed Natsu who was still happily shooting at parked cars.

While smoke polluted the normally fresh morning air and the usual peacefulness was shattered with the commotion of battle, the room Laxus was in with Tempester was silent. The two were simply contemplating each other before Tempester made the first move. Laxus saw the strike coming and dodged before planting a solid roundhouse kick to the demon's stomach. Laxus's foot throbbed after the kick landed. Tempester had stumbled back, but he clearly wasn't affected by the kick. He was pretty sure his foot would have a bruise on it the next day. Tempester drew a gun and started with his actual attacks.

"Whoosh," he intoned and blasts of air exploded out of the gun, similar to how Wendy and Chelia's weapons worked. Fortunately, he had sparred with them before so he knew to dodge without getting hit. He internally winced as he remembered getting slammed into a padded wall by compressed air. It had hurt. Wendy and Chelia had frantically apologized and he had waved off their concerns with a laugh. Natsu had laughed to the point of tears when the story had been told. He had clapped Wendy on the back and told her good job.

Laxus knew that she had defeated Ezel with help from Chelia and he felt a small smile flit across his face. Wendy had gotten so much stronger than when she had first arrived with Natsu and Gajeel. He paid the price for his inattention when he got punched in the jaw. The force had pushed him back into the metal wall and he heard ringing in his head. He pressed a hand to his temples and groaned as he pushed off the wall.

"You're a strong bastard, I'll give you that," Laxus said, ignoring the pain that was radiating from the side of his head. "But you'll have to do better." He fired off a bolt from his ray. His shoulders seemed to be covered by some sort of armor and Laxus wondered if it was a good conductor of electricity. If it was, that would be an easy way to end this fight before he took anymore damage. Before the demon could recover from the attack, Laxus shot another bolt and it did make contact with the armor the demon wore. If it did conduct electricity, it wasn't a strong conductor. Tempester was hardly affected and Laxus swore under his breath. That was one of his favorite ways to immobilize his opponent. Fortunately though, dodging fire was easy because of fighting Natsu which he proceeded to do as Tempester launched a volley of fire at him.

Laxus was startled when yells of very familiar voices echoed off the walls. "We found you!" Freed exclaimed as the rest of the Thunder Legion joined him.

"What the hell? I thought I told you to stay at headquarters!" Laxus asked with forced patience in his voice.

"Freed was worrying about you," Bickslow said with a gleeful grin as he pinned the blame on his best friend. Freed spluttered in protest and Evergreen hid her laughter behind her hand. Evergreen sobered up when she laid eyes on Tempester.

"You bastard," she snarled. Laxus stifled a sigh.

"This is why I told you to stay behind," Laxus explained in an exaggerated, I-told-you-so tone. "I was going to get revenge for you so you wouldn't have to fight him again." Ever held her head high.

"I want to help though, to prove to myself that I _can_ beat him." Laxus shook his head and faced the demon who had refrained from attacking as the Thunder Legion sorted itself out.

"Humans are so entertaining," he chuckled as he positioned himself into a fighting stance. "Let's end this, I have other things to do."

 **Please review! They give me motivation to write more. See you guys later!**


	41. Chapter 41

**Hey guys! So I decided to say screw it with the schedule and I'll just release these chapters whenever I want to, but there will still be one chapter a month. Second semester is going really well so far, but I just took two exams so we'll see how that turns out. Anyways, enjoy!**

Laxus smirked at Tempester. "Let's be real, you're human, or you were before you got fucked up with genetic mutations." Tempester pulled his lips back in a snarl.

"I've been made better than what you human trash are," he sneered back. Evergreen used the converstion to launch her first attack with her 'fairy machine gun'. Glowing yellow bullets shot out of the machine gun she had on her shoulder and while they embedded themselves in Tempester's tough skin, the demon hardly seemed deterred. Freed drew his own rapier and lunged. The blade was thin but wickedly sharp, designed for speed and agility. It had been a Christmas present from Laxus several years ago. Needless to say, it was Freed's favorite weapon. Bickslow's weapon of choice was, not traditional, to say the least. Small drones that could launch physical attacks were controlled by a knight helmet-looking transmitter that he wore almost all the time, the inside of which had electrodes so he could control the drones with his thoughts. The visor covering his eyes displayed video feeds from the three drones that he could control. They were particularly useful for stealth missions. And in situations like this where having the element of surprise was crucial.

The three bots immediately zoomed in while Freed and Laxus were keeping the Demon occupied, leaving an opening for Evergreen and Bickslow to attack from behind. The small drones deployed the small blades that were built into them and were also unreasonably sharp, designed to make fast, efficient weapons. They embedded themselves in Tempester's sides, where his skin was less thick. Small but deep slits appeared, black blood starting to drip on the floor. Evergreen wrinkled her nose at the appearance and the stench. She recovered quickly and released a volley of bullets at the cuts in Tempester's skin. The demon growled out of frustration or pain, none of them could tell. Laxus and the others shared a glance and in that moment, they all seemed to come up with a plan: aim for the gashes on Tempester's sides. In an instant, Freed had dodged Tempester's arm and slid his rapier into the cuts on his sides. There was another howl of pain and Laxus winced at the volume.

Laxus aimed as the demon was distracted and shot another electric bolt and this time it did have an effect unlike the previous one did. Under an assault from all four of the thunder legion members, Tempester was getting overwhelmed. They were going all out and like always, did not give a damn about their surroundings. If they had, they would have noticed that there were dents in the metal walls from Ever's machine gun and some of the lights were sparking from Laxus shooting electricity bolts. As they collectively took down Tempester, the demon got one final hit in with claws. Laxus had no idea where they came from but they delivered a deep gash to his side. He tasted blood in his mouth and he stumbled.

"If I'm dying then I'm bringing you with me," Tempester snarled. Bickslow and Freed rushed to support Laxus who looked like he was about to collapse. "The poison that my claws carry can be fatal. The more that fall, the easier it will be for the Underworld King to destroy you." And with those chilling words the demon died.

"We need to get him to Porlyusica now," Freed said.

"But does she have the antidote?" Evergreen asked. "If she doesn't have it then there's really nothing we can do."

"If we could somehow get the poison and get it to her she could use it to find the antidote," Bickslow pointed out and then proceeded to command his drones to get one of the metal claws. "We're going to have a hell of a time getting back to the tower now that it's light outside. Let's get going." And with that, Freed and Bickslow were supporting Laxus who was basically dead weight.

"Ever, we'll need you to cover for us," Freed stated and Ever scoffed.

"As if you even need to ask." The four left the Cube as quickly as they could.

Chelia was hovering where Wendy was resting in her infirmary bed. The sterile room was mostly silent, the quiet was disturbed only by the constant beeping of machines keeping track of vital signs. Wendy's heart rate was steady and her breathing was even. The pink-haired member of Lamia Scale looked up when the doors slid open.

"Chelia where's Porlyusica?" Ever asked as Freed and Bickslow eased Laxus onto one of the empty beds. "Laxus was poisoned fighting one of the Gates. We have the poison but we need her to make an antidote."

"She didn't say where she was going," Chelia replied. "But I can start looking into it as long as you guys stay and watch the room while I'm gone." The three nodded and Chelia left the room in a hurry, carrying the bot that had the claw in its grip. For once Chelia wished the elevators were faster, despite them being one of the newest models, they still didn't go fast enough. Chelia knew Natsu and his cousins thought the same thing, but elevator design wasn't Fairy Tail's business. No, technology like that was developed by Mermaid Heel, as well as accessories that could easily double as weapons. Sometimes Chelia wondered how the two completely different things tied together but she would never be able to understand Mermaid Heel. When the elevator finally arrived, she spammed the button for the scientific research floor and tapped her foot while the floor numbers crept by.

The fact that Chelia was impatient proved that the situation was extremely important. Normally she and Wendy were the calmest members of their respective gangs. Never raising their voices, unless the situation was extreme, and never starting fights like literally everyone else seemed to relish in. Chelia enjoyed fighting for fun, sure. But fighting because someone ate someone else's food, like Gray and Lyon for example, just seemed pointless. As soon as she arrived in the room she tossed the claw on the chemical-proof, metal countertops. She pulled on smart-tech gloves that were impervious to poison and were made of light, flexible nanofibers.

There was an analysis chamber where you would put in an object, like a poison for example, and multiple scans would occur and come back with a components analysis. Chelia put the claw in the chamber and waited for the tests to finish. As Chelia was rocking on her foot Porlyusica stormed in.

"Get back to the infirmary floor, I'll take it from here," she commanded and Chelia pouted. Lamia Scale didn't have a healer like her, so any time spent with the continent-famous doctor was precious.

"Please let me stay! I don't get opportunities like this often." Porlyusica narrowed her eyes but sighed.

"You can stay for ten minutes," she relented and Chelia beamed. "But you have to be quiet." Chelia nodded, willing to do anything to stay here and learn. A beep sounded from the holographic screen that was above the chamber. Porlyusica dragged the 3-D model of the poison onto the larger screen that dominated the center of the room. Chelia's eyebrows knotted in confusion, I've never seen this before. What's that atom on the right?" Chelia reached up to rotate it. She tapped some of the options to isolate the thing of Chelia and Porlyusica's interest.

"Did they create a new element?" Chelia asked, her voice a whisper. The doctor said nothing, only contemplated it before gesturing for Chelia to leave.

"Is the antidote being made?" was the first thing Freed asked when Chelia arrived back. She lowered herself on the chair next to Wendy's bed and brushed some tangled blue hair off of her best friend's forehead.

"Tartaros created a new element," Chelia informed, her face grim, her voice tinged with anxiety. "Porlyusica's trying to figure it out as we speak." The three Thunder Legion members exchanged glances.

"How?" Evergreen asked and Chelia shrugged.

"I have no idea, they must have some advanced tech if they can do something like that. Once we win this, I think we should take all of their technology and use it for ourselves." They all looked at her in shock. "What?" Before anyone could say anything, Wendy stirred on her bed. Her eyes squeezed shut before she cracked one lid open.

"Chelia?" Wendy's voice was dry. Chelia instantly jumped up and grabbed a water bottle from the refrigerator in the wall.

"Don't try to talk just yet. You've been out for a couple of hours," Chelia informed and Wendy let her head rest back on the pillow, her dark blue hair a stark contrast from the white fabric she was laying on.

"Is Natsu ok?" Wendy asked and Chelia bit her lip.

"He and Lucy brought Evelyn in, but they left and he was _not_ in a good mood." Wendy raised her head again to see the black hair of her cousin splayed over a pillow. "She's not hurt but they think she had a panic attack," Chelia explained and Wendy nodded with a sad look on her face.

"I hope Natsu doesn't do anything too reckless," Wendy murmured.

Chelia placed a hand on her shoulder and grinned. "I don't think he will, he has Lucy with him and I think she can keep him out of trouble." Wendy gave a small smile and nodded.

"Yeah, you're probably right." Chelia pulled Wendy's blanket back up. "Wait where's Porlyusica?" Wendy asked and Chelia stiffened slightly.

"She's up in the research room right now. I think Tartaros created a new element that they put in their poison," Chelia summarized and Wendy's brown eyes widened.

"Who was poisoned?" Wendy looked like she was on the verge of panicking.

"Laxus, but we'll have the antidote in no time." Wendy's mouth twisted in a frown but she went back to the other topic Chelia had mentioned.

"They created a new element? How is that even possible?" Chelia looked frustrated.

"We don't _know_!" Evergreen hushed her, seeing as Chelia's voice had been raising in volume the longer she talked.

"Sorry Ever." The two younger teenagers exchanged smiles and giggled. The commotion had woken up Gray who forgot about his injuries and tried to sit up, only to be met with a reproachful look from Chelia and Wendy.

"Why are you being so loud?" he groaned. "I'm trying to sleep." Wendy and Chelia couldn't help it they burst into laughter which proceeded to rouse everyone else from their sleep as well. The room filled with commotion instantly. More stories were being exchanged and soon all the misery was forgotten. Of course it all ended when Porlyusica stormed into the room carrying a vial and an empty syringe and cast a critical eye around the room. Everyone fell silent and she glared at Chelia.

"Didn't I tell you to keep watch in here?" With that statement the room burst into laughter again and Porlyusica rolled her eyes. However, she reluctantly smiled as she filled the syringe with the liquid stored in the vial and injected it into Laxus's arm.

While inside the Tower was filled with mirth, fights were still raging in the street. Not that Natsu was helping prevent it. Oh no, he was fully enjoying blowing up motorcycles and cars that belonged to the Era Knights, laughing maniacally all the while. Lucy exercised much more control as they slowly threaded their way through the crowd to reach Sting and Rogue.

"Natsu," Hibiki said over the network communicator. "Most of the nine are down, only the one called Mard Geer still needs to be defeated." Natsu stopped and stood still.

"I'm on it, I'll take Sting and Rogue with me too, I feel like we'll need all the backup we can get."

 **Have some Chendy! I love their friendship so much and I wish we got to see more of them fighting together. Your reviews give me life. I'll see you guys later!**


	42. Chapter 42

**This is the longest chapter in a while. There's also a fair amount of violence, more so than in other chapters at least in my opinion. Anyway, I'm happy with this chapter and I'm glad that this arc is over. Thanks again for all the support and follows. It means the world to me.**

"Where did those bastards go?" Natsu snapped as they ran through the streets. It actually looked like the chaos had lessened considerably; they must have been finally overwhelmed Tartaros's forces. "Of course, the one time I need them they're nowhere to be found." Lucy trailed behind, giving Natsu space while he was fuming. Sunlight was starting to illuminate the mess that was littered throughout the once peaceful streets of Magnolia. Lucy could not believe that only one day had passed. She felt that this fight had dragged on for _days_. The adrenaline rush was the only thing that was keeping her conscious at this point. Fatigue was making her breaths labored and her legs and arms heavier. Natsu was still going strong it seemed; it looked like he still had plenty of energy to run off of. Lucy supposed that made sense, considering he had been training for this for years.

"Sting! Rogue!" Apparently Natsu had lost patience trying to find them and was using the network communicator instead. They must have replied because he yelled "where the _fuck_ are you?" Lucy winced at the harsh language. She understood his frustration. He probably wanted this fight over as much as she did. What was more likely was that he wanted to finish this and go to Evelyn and then go back to their house. Although with how easily Tartaros seemed to find the house in Akane, Lucy felt uneasy being in an isolated location like Natsu's mansion. When Tartaros was defeated, what was to stop another group, like Grimoire Heart, from hunting them down? She was sure that it had its own lockdown but that did not comfort her in the slightest.

Sting and Rogue must have given Natsu an answer because he looked back at her. "You've been quiet, are you ok?" Lucy bit her lip, not sure if she should share her insecurities with him.

"No, I'm fine," she gave a weak smile. "I just want this to be over." He nodded and turned back around.

"You and me both. Sting and Rogue are meeting us at the entrance of the Cube. We'll hunt down this Underworld King bastard when we meet up with them," Natsu informed and Lucy nodded. They pushed on running, their feet pounding on the pavement, avoiding shattered glass and blood.

"Their forces are finally thinning out," Sting said as they found the cousins leaning against the exterior of the Cube. "We just have to finish this guy off and then this can end." Natsu nodded and looked towards the entrance ramp. To Lucy, it looked like a gaping mouth. She shook her head. That visual was _not_ helping. Natsu looked at each of them.

"Are you guys ready?" he asked. Sting and Rogue nodded with confidence. Lucy on the other hand was not feeling the same as the cousins. Natsu noticed this and turned to her. "You don't have to come with us if you don't want to." He hesitated before adding "I kinda want you to go back to the tower." Lucy glared.

"Why the hell would I do that? I can fight!" Natsu winced at the anger in her face. He had only heard rumors about the so-called Underworld King and they were not good things. He didn't need the jerk to figure out that Lucy was an easy way to get at him. He didn't know what he would do if he lost her. Probably the same way he reacted to when Evelyn was kidnapped: lock himself in his house, and not contact anyone for a month.

"I don't want you getting hurt," he said and Lucy's expression didn't shift.

"You didn't have a problem when we were fighting Franmalth," she retorted and Natsu growled.

"This is different!"

"How?"

Natsu opened his mouth but Rogue cleared his throat. It was Sting that said "are we going or not? You two can finish your lover's spat later." Lucy flushed a furious shade of red and Natsu rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, yeah, let's get this over with," Natsu acquiesced and looked back at Lucy. He sighed, "if you really want to come I'm not going to stop you. I just," he clenched his hands into fists, "I don't want you to get hurt."

"One of us can stay with her if you want," Rogue offered and Lucy shook her head.

"No I'll fight." Natsu's fists turned white and he didn't say a word as he stalked into the gaping cavern of the Cube. Their footsteps echoed off the metal walls. All of the noise and chaos from before was gone, leaving only a very sinister silence. None of them talked, that energy was being channeled to running and gearing up for the fight ahead.

"Hibiki, we need information," Natsu whispered, the whisper being loud in the stillness of the environment. Hibiki projected a map and Natsu just nodded and followed the map that he could see in his head. Lucy was positive she could hear her heart beating. With Natsu and his cousins' enhanced senses they probably could. After running for what felt like an eternity, they entered a chamber that seemed like a very demented throne room. A metal "throne" was against the back wall. Sitting on it was, who Lucy assumed to be, the Underworld King.

"You posed more of a challenge than I anticipated," he smirked. "My name is Mard Geer. But you won't need to remember that because you'll be dead soon enough." Natsu clenched his teeth in anger.

"The only person dying here tonight is you," he snarled. Mard Geer replied with another lazy smirk.

"It's entertaining that you think that." He paused for a minute, considering all of them for a moment before turning to Natsu. "How is your sister doing by the way?" All three cousins sent murderous glares. "Her screams were wonderful." Lucy grabbed Natsu's wrist before he could charge forward. The anger in his eyes had the potential to set something on fire. Lucy shared glances with Sting and Rogue.

"Were you one of the bastards who tortured her?" Natsu snapped. Mard Geer only replied with a grin.

"And if I was, what would you do?"

"I'm going to kill you so there won't be enough of you left to bury." The darkness and anger in Natsu's eyes was legitimately terrifying. He was visibly shaking with barely restrained outrage. Lucy was positive that if she wasn't holding his arm then he would have already been moving and no doubt trying to slaughter the person standing in front of them.

"Lucy. Let. Go." Natsu's voice was cold, like the tone he had adopted when he had initially found her. The distant, emotionless voice was back and she hated it. " _Lucy_." It went against her instincts but she released his arm. In an instant, Natsu lunged forward with a knife and hurled himself towards Mard Geer, aiming for his throat. Sting and Rogue went to move but Natsu stopped them.

"Sting, Rogue, get Lucy out of here." Natsu's voice was low, threatening. Sting and Rogue recognized this. Natsu had done it before, ordering them to get Evelyn or someone else away from where he was going to fight if he felt that it was going to be particularly violent. Or if there was a chance he might die. Rogue gently grabbed Lucy by the hand and started dragging her away.

"Natsu!" He looked back. "Don't die." Natsu smiled but didn't say anything. Which was _not_ reassuring in anyway. Lucy knew that Natsu wasn't above sacrificing himself if it meant that everyone was safe. She hated that he had so little value for his life and it hurt her heart to think about it. She noticed that Sting was still with Natsu but didn't question it. From what she had observed, the two cousins were incredibly close to each other. At least, they didn't fight as much as Natsu did with his other cousins. Or maybe he was closer to Gajeel. Lucy couldn't tell because he was close with Gray, who he fought with at least four times each day. Natsu didn't physically fight with Gajeel, but the screaming matches and constant changing of elevator music was, at least to Lucy, considered fighting. Lucy looked back but it was still silent.

Once Lucy left with Rogue, Natsu was able to breathe again. If he didn't feel like she could have gotten seriously hurt, he would have let her stay. Also, he didn't need the bastard in front of him using Lucy against him. That's the last thing he needed. Natsu could sense Sting was glancing at him but he ignored his cousin. This was Natsu's first time seeing the guy and he already hated him. The smug smirk and the dark hair reminded Natsu slightly of Gajeel, which only made Natsu hate him more.

"Why did you send her away? Was she important to you?" If Natsu clenched his teeth anymore he was positive his jaw would break. Or maybe he would lose circulation in his hands first. Mard Geer had dodged the knife easily. Natsu drew out his blowtorch and aimed it at the man in front of him. He released a blast of fire that was felt throughout the room. Sting glanced over at his cousin and flinched. Natsu looked _pissed_.

"If I have to die in order to stop you from hurting anyone else I will," Natsu snarled. Mard Geer only laughed at Natsu's statement.

"And I will die to help Lord Zeref achieve his goal. Shall we make this a fight to the death?"

"Fine by me." Sting's eyes widened at the exchange happening before him.

"Natsu, you're being irrational. Think this through."

"Go find Lucy and Rogue, help the others fighting outside. Blow some Era Knight cars up for me, will ya?" Sting gulped but jogged out of the room.

"If you die I'll kill you Natsu," Sting called, but there was no humor behind it. Natsu dying was a very real possibility.

"Do you not want anyone to see you lose to me?" Mard Geer simpered and Natsu scoffed.

"I don't want everyone to see how much humanity I lose while I'm fighting you, bastard." Natsu hated killing, absolutely hated it, but if it was to protect his friends and family he would do anything. Even if it meant going against his moral code. When Natsu could no longer hear Sting's footsteps he lunged. He had put his blowtorch away for the moment and had drawn twin hunting knives instead. They were more convenient for close-range fighting. Natsu generally preferred long-range combat but it was Igneel's opinion that you couldn't choose where you fight your battles. His father took it upon himself to train him to fight in every type of environment he could possibly encounter. Natsu pushed all thoughts of his father from his head. Igneel was gone. He couldn't help Natsu anymore so it wasn't productive to think about him in fights. Mard Geer ducked away and countered with a punch to Natsu's stomach. With quick reflexes Natsu slashed down and cut his wrist. Surprisingly, his blood was red. Natsu smirked.

"If you're not human, then why is your blood red?" Natsu asked and his smirk widened at Mard Geer's glare.

While the self-proclaimed King of the Underworld was distracted Natsu feinted and buried one of his knives in Mard Geer's upper stomach. Natsu was still on guard but he didn't expect one of Mard Geer's feet to trip him and cause him to crash to the ground. Mard Geer grinned wickedly and started kicking Natsu's head. Natsu could feel a bump forming on his head and when a foot was pressed heavily on his face he could feel blood gushing from his nose. He was disoriented but he recognized the stinging pain of a knife wound on his arm, from his shoulder to his elbow, digging in at that joint. Natsu bit his lip to keep in the groan of agony. Natsu latched onto Mard Geer's other ankle and tugged heavily, causing the other man to tumble to the ground. Natsu blinked his eyes, trying to clear the black dots from his vision and wiped his face and winced at the blood that now smeared his hands. Before Mard Geer could recover, Natsu stood up, staggering slightly in the process and limped over to where Mard Geer was lying on the cold metal ground. The collision with the floor he had encountered caused his legs to bruise significantly, making it difficult to walk. Out of revenge, Natsu put his energy into kicking Mard Geer's head, getting a grim satisfaction when he heard a sickening crunch, signifying that his nose had broken. Despite himself, Natsu felt a sadistic grin takeover his face.

Natsu pulled out his blowtorch and flipped the switch to kick it into high gear. Mard Geer's eyes widened. Fighting his exhaustion and blood loss Natsu towered over him. "You bastard," Natsu growled. He flicked the blowtorch on. "See you in hell." Before Natsu burned him alive Mard Geer warned "you may have won this fight, but you didn't cut off the head of the snake." Natsu ignored him and considered the screams of pain Mard Geer retribution for torturing his sister. As much as he hated killing, Natsu's sadistic grin hadn't faded and when there was nothing left but ashes he crumpled to the floor.

"Sting, Rogue," he spoke into the network communicator, "can you guys help me out of here." When they gave their assurances that they were on their way Natsu smiled serenely as he closed his eyes and went to sleep.

Natsu's eyes squeezed shut as light surrounded him. Had he actually died? As happy as he was that he had defended his family, he was slightly sad. He had wanted to spend more time with Evelyn and Lucy. Maybe fight some more with Gray and his cousins. Find out what had happened to his father.

"Natsu." Someone was saying his name. His eyes were too heavy to open though. Lucy! It was Lucy who was talking to him.

"Come on Natsu open your eyes." Wendy.

"He's been out for three hours, can he physically wakeup?" The higher pitched voice belonged to Chelia. Natsu's hand twitched. He wanted to open his eyes so badly, but it took so much _energy_. Energy that he just didn't have. "Move your hand if you hear us." He moved the fingers on his right hand and he heard several sighs of relief.

"Stop crowding him, he needs more sleep." The brisk, cold voice was Porlyusica no doubt. Natsu felt a warm hand resting on top of his eyes.

"Can I stay?" Lucy asked and he heard a sigh. Porlyusica didn't say anything and the pressure of Lucy's hand didn't leave so he assumed that Porlyusica allowed her to stay. Natsu wanted to say something, so desperately, but his tongue felt like lead and his mouth was dry.

"Lucy," he rasped. He felt a cool rag placed on his face, dabbing at the blood that was no doubt still on his face. She rested a hand on his cheek and he sighed softly and leaned into her touch.

When Natsu opened his eyes the room was dim, letting him know that it was nighttime and no one else was in the room. He looked down at the mop of blonde hair that was spread across the white blanket covering his bed. His muscles were throbbing and aching. Even moving his head slightly made his neck hurt. Lucy's eyes fluttered open when she felt Natsu's gaze fall on her.

"Natsu!" Her face was flushed but she looked relieved to see him awake. "If you weren't as hurt as you are I'd smack you." Natsu chuckled, or at least he attempted to.

"Happy to see you." His face ached so he tried to smile but failed miserably. "How long was I out?"

"Around eight hours or so. Porlyusica gave everyone the ok to leave so you're the only one left. You were hurt the most severely. Thankfully you don't have any nerve damage in your arm. That was a really nasty wound." Natsu was about to reply when several people exploded into the room. Gray, Gajeel, Erza, and Minerva crowded into the room.

"What happened to Mard Geer? No one can find him," Erza stated and Natsu, to the best of his ability, scowled.

"Burned the fucker alive." The look in his eyes was murderous. "I was getting revenge for Evie. The pain that he was subjected to was nothing compared to what Evie went through." The room was silent and the four people looked at each other.

"We need to find a way to cover this up," Gray decided and Natsu growled.

"No. Tell everyone that I burned him alive as revenge for what happened to Evelyn. It'll send a message that anyone who hurt her is going to suffer," Natsu argued.

"Shouldn't you ask Evie how she feels about that first?" Erza asked.

"Most of the country already knows what happened. It's not like the people in Magnolia will bother us. They already know that we've killed people," Natsu responded. Gray and Erza exchanged glances before looking at Gajeel. Natsu's cousin nodded and sighed.

"We'll get on that then. Also, we'll need to fund rebuilding the city because this will inevitably be blamed on us like always," Gajeel said and Natsu bent his head at the slightest angle.

"Also can I get food?" Everyone rolled their eyes and everyone except Lucy left. Natsu looked at his arm out of the corner of his eye and saw that it was wrapped in white bandages, slightly stained dark red from dried blood. "I probably look like I've returned from hell." His eyes widened. "Where's Evie?"

"She's sleeping on the 'hotel' floor with Chelia," Lucy informed and Natsu nodded and smiled slightly. Despite the pain that Natsu felt in his arm he reached up and placed his hands on top of Lucy's.

"I'm glad I didn't die." Lucy smiled back at him.

"I'm glad you didn't either."

 **See you guys later and your reviews give me life.**


	43. Chapter 43

**I don't think I updated this month because I spent a lot of time focusing on finals and stuff like that so time and energy for writing was pretty sporadic. As an apology, here's a sneak peek of a collection of oneshots I'm thinking of doing for this story. All of the oneshots will be canon. Enjoy and I'll publish an actual chapter soon!**

"Are you sure we should be doing this?" Lucy asked as Natsu, Evelyn, Erza, Gray, Gajeel, and Wendy were in a van traveling up to a forest to the north of Magnolia. "We just defeated Tartaros, shouldn't we still be in the city making sure no one else attacks?"

"Even if that does happen the others have it under control. A major player won't make a move for a while; they're all too busy regrouping and trying to reestablish themselves since Tartaros was annihilated," Gray explained and Lucy nodded.

It had been a week since Tartaros was defeated and everyone had, more or less, recovered. Several people were still bandaged but Porlyusica declared herself on vacation and she had said if they hurt themselves then she couldn't be held accountable nor would she heal them if the re-opening of their injuries were through their own actions. Now the group of seven were driving up to one of the mansions Makarov owned in the same mountain range as Mount Hakobe. The old man had contacted Natsu several days prior and congratulated them on their victory and told them that the house was at their disposal. There had been a very clear threat that any damage was going to be paid for out of pocket, accidental or not. Natsu had recoiled and sworn repeatedly that they would be careful lest they play what everyone referred to as 'the punishment game'. Lucy didn't know what the game actually was but based off of everyone's reactions it was more entertaining for Makarov than for anyone who actually had to participate.

Lucy cast a look around the car that was driving to the mountain. Wendy was talking excitedly to Evelyn and Erza about something. Evelyn was giggling and Erza was smiling as she leaned her head on the headrest behind her. Gajeel was changing the car music while sneaking not-so-subtle glares at Natsu every time his cousin would change the music back. Surprisingly Erza hadn't yelled at them for it yet, but Lucy could tell it was getting under her skin. Lucy's head was resting on the window as she listened to Natsu talking about his experiences camping with Igneel. Lily, Happy, and Charle were all sitting at one end of the car talking to each other. Happy was fantasizing about fishing in the stream that was near the house.

"Most of the time when I was younger we would just set up a tent in the backyard and we pretended we were in a forest." Natsu smiled fondly at the memories. "Sometimes he would pretend that he was a monster and I had to fight him off." Lucy's eyebrow quirked and Natsu laughed. "It wasn't anything threatening. Well, most of the time." He added the last part for dramatic effect and Lucy shook her head, a laugh bubbling out of her throat. "Did you do anything fun with your parents?" As soon as the words were out of his mouth he tensed and prepared to apologize. Lucy waved his apologies away.

"Before my mom died we would set out blankets in the gardens and we would roast marshmallows while we stargazed." Lucy's eyes lit up. "Can we stargaze on this trip? I haven't in a while." Natsu grinned at her enthusiasm and nodded.

"Whatever you want Luce. This is your first time camping so I have to make it amazing for you." Gajeel snickered and Natsu shot him a glare. "Say something, I dare you!" Gajeel just smirked and changed the music back to smooth jazz. Natsu reached for the controls but that was when Erza snapped.

"The next person who changes the music gets to ride on the roof."


	44. Chapter 44

**Just a note that I published a new story called "Spring Adventures" and it's where the sneak peak I posted earlier comes from. Enjoy it!**


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